Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record
by SonicAnime2010
Summary: Sequel to Lyrical Step, a new crisis unfolds and calls back to action the animals and mages. They aren't alone.. They have new allies, but also new enemies. New arcs in the planning as well. Pairing: Sonic/Nanoha/Fate with some harem build-ups possibly.
1. Record 1

SonicANIME2010 here with the pilot to the long awaited sequel story to Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Step.. hope ya'll enjoyed the month break.. I had to take a month off to get my thoughts in order. And now they are in order so here I am bringing in the first chapter to the new story.

Ages areas appropriate as according to StrikerS canon

Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to Sonic Team and SEGA. Nanoha Takamachi and characters related belong to Seven Arcs

Here we go!

* * *

**[Unspecified Location in Wilderness: Late at night]**

In a clearing of this dark forest, two figures stood back-to-back. The first was a red echidna with long dread-lock style hair-like fur, purple eyes and a white crescent moon birthmark across his chest. He was wearing a brown cow-boy style hat, steel-toe boots, and thick mittens that had indents for the knuckles of his hands. His partner was a young 9-10 year old girl in appearance with silver, long and flowing hair, her left eye was an amber-yellow in color while her right eye was covered by a black eye-patch. This girl was wearing a thick grayish duster coat that extended down to her ankles almost, a light blue form-fitting shirt and knee-length skirt, gray fingerless gloves and shoes to match. The girl held several small gray daggers in between her knuckles of both her hands.

The echidna bared his fists against an unknown force that he met eyes with, all that could be seen were the light blue trims of the assailants' outfits, "You're not going anywhere with that emerald. Not while I have any say in it!" he spat out

The echidna's companion caught glimpse of another figure rushing silently for her friend's side, "Knuckles watch out!" she threw a wave of the daggers in front of said figure. The daggers exploded on impact and sent the assailant back into the woods forcefully.

The echidna, identified as Knuckles, slammed his fist into the temple of the figure in front of him, driving him back into the woods as well, "Didn't need your help, but thanks Cinque."

The girl gave a nod in the echidna's direction and pressed to engage a few more enemies in front of her while the echidna did the same.

The echidna was doing well until another assailant appeared using some warp mechanism and scored a lucky shot that knocked the wind out of him.

"Ugh!" Knuckles doubled over, which granted the opportunity for two more figures to swoop in, grab him, and drag him into the trees and out of sight.

"Knuckles!" Cinque cried in surprise as the ones she fought also disappeared, "Damn!" she cursed with a snap of her fingers

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana; Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st OST]**

A close up of Raising Heart appears as the music starts with a long note, the words: STAND BY, READY appear along the center of it.

A light blue sky serves as a backdrop as dozens and dozens of white feathers scatter away to reveal the Sonic Team logo inside the Nanoha star, big silver letters read out in English.

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record

Scene first shows Vivio waving goodbye to Sonic, Nanoha and Fate, who each waved back in return as the young girl ran off.  
_"I__tsumo sagishitetanda hontou no egao afureru basho" (I've always been searching for the place I can __show my true smile,)_

Vivio runs past the Saint Church, waving at Deed, Otto, Sein, Carim and Schach as she passed. The others returned the wave.  
Vivio then runs by Angel Island, waving at Knuckles, Blaze and Shadow, who each offer their own wave of recognition.  
_"kazukana sono nukumori ni mirai wo utsushite ugokezuita" (but that faint warmth reflected my future and I couldn't move.)_

Now inside the Cradle of the Saints, Vivio sat at the throne, in front of her is Hayate, Cinque, Nove, Wendi and Dieci. Hayate gives a "go ahead" type signal to Sonic, Nanoha and Fate on the exterior, who held out their hands and a bright light flashed from them all.  
"_mienai ashita ni kibou wo kasanete" (I gather all hope into this unforeseeable future)  
"fuanna yoru wo kurikaesu yori" (and rather than repeat these nights full of anxiety,)_

Scene shifts to mages shifting into their barrier jackets / knight clothing. Three at a time in the following order: Sonic, Nanoha and Fate; Shadow, Blaze and Knuckles; Vita, Signum and Reinforce Zwei; Cinque, Nove and Dieci. After shifting, everyone would assume poses.  
_"ima koko ni aru chiisana shiawase wo mamoritai"(I want to protect this small happiness I have now.)_

Sonic and Nove engage in a defensive avoiding chase on foot to avoid ranged shots from a variety or robots and organic foes, Sonic's on his air-board while Nove's on her roller blades. The two come to a stop and Sonic rolls into his powerful spin-dash, which Nove uses as a make-shift soccer ball and kicks him clean through all the enemies. The hedgehog skidded to Nove's side and they both high-five.  
_"ano hi deatta kiseki wa dare ni mo souzou dekinai" (The miracle of us meeting that day)_

Nanoha and Fate take their own turn against a variety of aerial foes. Nanoha was shooting them down while Fate cut through a few with her Haken form Bardiche, then releasing the blade to boomerang it through the rest.  
_"monogatari no purorogu [prologue]no ni tsunagatte yuku" (Is a prologue to a story that no one can imagine)_

Shadow, Blaze and Cinque stand and throw chaos spears, flame daggers and exploding daggers respectively at their variety of enemies. Vita and Signum double team with their hammer and sword respectively; they crush and slice their way through.  
_"arifureta kotoba demo ii massugu ni tsutaetai yo" (I want to tell you even if the words end up ordinary)_

Quick shots of Tails, Amy Rose, Shahra, Reinforce Zwei and Agito showing their support  
_"kimi no moto he to habataiteiku" (I'll flap my wings and fly to you)_

Super Sonic along with Nanoha and Saint Kaiser Vivio team up for a triple blast attack that seemed like it was endless.  
_"zutto soba ni iru kara" (Because I'll always be at your side...)_

The music slows down as everyone returns to normal, Sonic and the others stood overlooking a horizon as a camera pans up to the sky and the emblem and logo from before appear.

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 1  
Honeymoon ending, Knuckles has been captured!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated World #1: Mid-Childa]  
[Vacation Resort: Honeymoon Suite: 6 am]**

This marvelous and luxurious resort including a spa, hotel, and quick beach access served as a great spot for a romantic getaway, family vacation, or in the case here, a nice and peaceful honeymoon.

A particular trio shared the same bed in this particular suite. An anthropomorphic male hedgehog with royal blue fur and green eyes, a late-teen human female with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes, and a third late-teen human female with blonde hair and red eyes. All were not wearing any clothes, and their usual outfits were hanging by the wall nearby. They were the newly-married Takamachi family, Sonic Takamachi (Hedgehog), Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Takamachi-Harlaown.

A month after the end of Riot Force 6's, these newlyweds were finally able to take some time off for their honeymoon which was a 2 week stay at this fabulous resort. Their adoptive daughter, Vivio, was sent to the Saint Church to stay at for some time during the honeymoon.

Now we turn to the lovely trio, who were only starting to wake on their last day of the stay and had a nice long night to rest. Though if one were to ask them, the three really wouldn't recall getting much "rest" at all. The first to wake up was the brunette Nanoha, Ace of Aces and the lovely woman who was born into the Takamachi name that her two loves now share with her. She woke up and quickly dressed up in a pair of pink pajamas and went to start up some tea for her family. Fate, the blonde, woke up just minutes after Nanoha finished, she dressed in a black pajama outfit and joined her wife in the kitchen area. Finally, the blue hedgehog, Sonic, woke up and dressed in a pair of sky-blue pajamas before joining his loves in the kitchen.

"Morning Nanoha. Morning Fate." the hedgehog yawned a bit.

"Good morning." Nanoha set several cups of tea on the small table for them all, "That was a fun two week vacation we had."

"Yeah, I'm surprised they let us take the weeks off." Sonic added.

"And we didn't have to pay for it." Fate noted as well, their honeymoon's tab was picked up for some reason.

"Something could be up.." Sonic thought out loud, his suspicions were slightly confirmed when a call came in to their suite, a video phone call, which Sonic took.

A blue screen in front of them for the call, on the other end was a brown-haired girl wearing a tanuki mask?

"Eh? Hayate!" All three nearly fell off their chairs.

The late-teen girl removed the tanuki mask, revealing her blue eyes. This girl was Hayate Yagami, "Good morning Takamachi family.. hope you enjoyed your honeymoon"

"Hayate-chan, only you can call us and then wear a tanuki mask when we answer." Nanoha giggled.

"We did enjoy our time off. What's on your mind? We're on holiday" Fate asked.

Hayate smiled a bit and held up a vanilla folder, "Not anymore you're not; orders from the Bureau."

"Eh.. I knew the higher ups wouldn't book us at the best beach resort in Mid-Childa out of pure gratitude." Sonic sighed.

The brunette let out a few giggles, "Actually they did.. the orders come from me. Congratulations, you three have been promoted to my new squad, we're en route to pick you up."

"Wait, promotions? New squad?" Nanoha took in what was said.

"Yup.. Special Mobile Force 6, I formed it just recently, and I know you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't give you three a personal invitation, so here it is" Hayate replied.

"You're en route to us? Why?" Fate asked.

"Now that is a surprise I'll let you find out when we get there.. in the mean time, check out, shower, clean up and be ready because you start work. I'll explain when we arrive." Hayate ended the call.

The trio just sat there for a brief moment, then once they took in what their brunette friend was saying they didn't waste much time. After having their breakfast, they showered, changed into better casual clothes.

Sonic wore a sky-blue t-shirt underneath a white collared button up shirt that had short sleeves, he wore the shirt with only the middle button done. Along with a pair of blue jeans and his trademark red and white shoes and gloves. Nanoha wore a casual, light-blue skirt and a white collared shirt, her hair tied up in a side-tail to her left. Fate let all of her hair down and tied a small bow at the end, she wore a black and gray shirt and skirt outfit.

They stood in a wide grassy field just outside the resort.

"Okay.. now where is she?" Sonic tapped his foot in his wait.

"I'm sure she'll be here about.. whoa!" Nanoha was interrupted by a large shadow that began to descend on their location. The shadow came from a huge airship that was painted yellow with purple trims along the wings, back and head, a large fin was located at the bottom of the ship, while the air-ship's shape was not unlike a large paper airplane in form, (minus the fold).. The ship was very much recognizable to the trio.

"Seio no Yurikago! (Cradle of the Saints/Saint's Cradle)" the three called out.

The all too familiar Cradle of the Saints made a landing just in front of them,. The hatch opened to reveal Hayate, who stepped forward.

"Heyo!" the brunette waved.

"How?" the trio asked in shock.

"I'll explain in a bit.. come aboard so we can take off." Hayate replied.

"Right.." The trio went in and the Cradle took flight.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: In flight]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

As the Cradle flew, Hayate guided Sonic, Nanoha and Fate through an all familiar hallway to the throne room, which served as a debriefing room of sorts.

"How did you get all this taken care of? Sonic asked

"Remember how we took over the Cradle and got it to land? Well we fixed it without any issue and we can use it as the base for my new squad." Hayate explained.

"Wait a minute," Nanoha noted, "To use the Cradle, we needed someone of the bloodline of the Saint King..." her musings were interrupted as the sliding doors into the throne room opened and what they saw drew a complete shock.

**[Throne Room]**

The same silver-haired girl with the eye-patch stood at attention, facing those who entered, she now wore a blue suit and skirt uniform. Standing next to her was another child-in-appearance with red hair tied into twin ques, blue eyes, her 8 year old child body wore the same outfit as the eye-patched girl; this was Vita of the Wolkenritter.

Across from Cinque and Vita were a black hedgehog, a purple cat and a tall woman with pink-purplish hair. The black hedgehog had red highlights amongst his spikey quills as well as his arm and leg fur, he had red eyes and a stoic expression amongst his face, he wore the same uniform as Cinque and Vita, only without the skirt. This was Shadow the Hedgehog. Beside him was Signum of the Wolkenritter; she wore her hair in a long ponytail, tied up by a yellow thin hair-tie. Her eyes were a lighter blue and she wore the same blue uniform as Vita and Cinque, what stood out most was her generous bust, which if noted she'll probably be shy about. Lastly was Blaze the Cat, the regal cat had her hair spiked up and held in a ponytail pointing up, her eyes yellow and catlike, and on her forehead was a red gem.

Also in the room were three more girls, all bearing the same uniform. The first one had long brown hair that was tied up with a yellow bow just at her neck, but the bow was loose enough to allow several long strands of her hair to fall down her back, her eyes matched the color of her hair. This was Dieci of the newly reformed Numbers. Next to her was Nove, another reformed cyborg, her hair was red and cut short, just reaching to her neckline, and her eyes were amber in color, her expression was one of content, and like Signum, she too had a good sized bust, though she'd be more or less neutral about it. Though the girl next to her, Wendi, another reformed cyborg, would probably exploit the size to her own fondling. Wendi had purplish-red hair and eyes to match, her expression was one of great mischief.

But what really got the attention of Sonic, Nanoha and Fate was the small girl sitting at the throne of the room, a young blonde with hetero-chromatic eyes: the left one was red and the right one was green. She was a small 6 year old girl, and pretty much the last person you'd expect up here.

"Vivio?" Sonic, Nanoha and Fate were surprised.

"Sonic-papa! Nanoha-mama! Fate-mama!" Vivio pressed a button on the console and ran for her parents, excited to see them. She gave each a hug while they were recovering from the surprise.

"What are you doing here?" Sonic was the first to ask.

"Hayate-oba-chan invited me, guess what, I learned how to fly this thing!" the girl was as energetic as ever.

"That's cool, Vivio. Fate-mama's proud." Fate replied

"Hayate-chan.. explain please." Nanoha asked after a sigh.

"Well..." Hayate started.

_-Flashback-_

_Hayate narrated at the Saint Church, "After Riot Force 6 was disbanded and the end of the JS Incident, there was still a matter of what to do with the Cradle. It was under the custody of the Saint Church. There was also the matter of Eggman's escape, he was still on the loose and on the hunt for the Chaos Emeralds, which were scattered to keep from enemy hands. Carim and I began planning for my next squad, the first one was a success and that built up merit. We wanted a base that could move about and still serve as a good place for training and residences. This brought me to establish the new squad and arrange for it to be based on the Cradle."_

_-Flashback end-_

"Part of the reasoning for establishing this new squad was to serve as rehab for the combat cyborgs. Making sure they can adapt to society." Hayate finished.

"But, why bring Vivio into this? If it's dangerous, she could get hurt." Nanoha noted her discomfort with exposing Vivio to the dangers of their work.

"Vivio's the only one who can use the Cradle, and I understand your concern but she'll be safe here." Hayate gave her assurance.

"Who else is part of the squad?" Sonic asked.

"I couldn't arrange for Subaru, Erio or Caro to be pulled over here from their assignments, but I did get Teana Lanster and most of the backyard staff from Riot Force 6 back here." Hayate replied as Vivio returned to her seat on the throne, on the outside, the Cradle picked up speed.

"Where are we going anyway?" Sonic asked after he noted the increase of speed.

"That's where I was getting to now.. I wasn't kidding when I said you start work today. We have a new crisis on our hands. Knuckles has been captured." Hayate pulled up a map on a video screen, a red dot pin-pointed a forest zone, "He and Cinque were in this forest zone as part of a sting we set up to trap a group of thieves called the Marauders, who have been stealing the Chaos Emeralds.. For what reason we are not sure yet.."

"You guys set up a trap and they still won?" Fate asked.

"Yeah.. they caught them by surprise, stole the emerald and captured it's guardian." Hayate confirmed.

"They only captured Knuckles?" Sonic asked, he turned to Cinque, "Why?"

"I don't know.. We were holding our own until they blind-sighted him. They left after securing Knuckles." Cinque explained

"That's what we are going to investigate. I'm sending Sonic, Nanoha, Cinque and Nove into the forest zone to investigate the area further, and Sonic, unfortunately Shahra's still helping our techs with maintenance of a few devices so you'll be without her on this one for the moment.. Fate, Shadow and Signum will coordinate with Teana at the nearby base and work to find any information on these assailants. Nanoha, once your group is done in the forest, rendezvous with Fate's group in the city." Hayate explained it out.

"We're here" Vivio informed from her throne.

"I want to know what happened to Knuckles, who these Marauders are, and their plans with the emeralds stopped.. Go!" Hayate ordered out and the groups split up and went to their areas.

* * *

**[Mid-Childa Forest Zone]  
[BGM: "Green Hill" Sonic the Hedgehog]**

Sonic, Cinque, Nanoha and Nove landed safely in the zone, it was a beautiful forest that had waterfalls, natural hills serving as the back-drop, and blue sky as peaceful as it could be. But our human and hedgehog mages knew better than to judge by appearances, as did the cyborgs with them.

"We better shift into our Barrier Jackets." Nanoha held Raising Heart out and changed her clothing into a white dress outfit with a red bow on her chest, thick shoulders, long sleeves with blue cuffs at the end and black fingerless gloves. Her device took the form of a golden-spearhead encasing a red orb along with a long silver pole with a thick pink tip at the end.

Sonic did the same with Blue Star, first his shoes, while still keeping the red and white color scheme, morphed into boots with greater traction and resistance to friction the straps were replaced by white laces and along the side of his boots were light blue highlights. His socks now extended up to below his knees and gained blue highlights. His gloves also altered now extending up to below his elbow and became smoother and lighter, while still made of a much more resilient material for resistance they provide support for greater reactions. Just at his wrists and ankles were silver bracelets and anklets with a blue diamond in the middle.

Cinque was next, her gray duster coat appeared and underneath it was her knee-length skirt and short-sleeve collared shirt combination with black finger-less gloves and gray boots.

Nove was next, her outfit was similar to Cinque's minus the coat, she wore gauntlets with an energy gun inbuilt installed on the back wrist. On her feet were a pair of 2-wheel motorized rollerblades and can ignite its exhaust nozzle boosters in its rear to boost the speed or kicking power.

"Well now, Cinque, Nove.. if I'm not mistaken this will be your first time working with us." Sonic noted.

"Both of us have progressed well in our little rehab, so you don't have to worry about trust, right Nove?" Cinque asked.

The red-head nodded with a rather confident expression, "Yeah.. just one thing, hedgehog.." she approached him on her skates and looked down in a challenging smirk, "You better not be any weaker since we fought last."

Sonic returned the smirk with one of his own, "Oh you don't have to worry there."

Nanoha giggled a bit, the only human there seemed amused by the growing rivalry, "Oh you two.. let's get going, we have an area to check out."

"Right!" The group set off.

At first the forest was normal, no immediate threats and that allowed them to progress. But, after a short period of time, a hostile unit made it's appearance. It was a small sentry robot.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED! FLEEING TO ALERT COMMAND!" The robot called out in alarm.

Nanoha frowned, "We can't let that sentry report our position, find a way to stop it!" and took off with the others in tow.

Sonic and Nove took the lead in their pursuit, the sentry wasn't too fast, which allowed for them to overtake it. The hedgehog engaged it first by curling up into his traditional spindash and blazed forward. The spin-ball scored a hit dead on the center of the sentry. Nove followed suit and with her Gun Knuckles, she fired a burst of rounds like a machine gun that ripped through the sentry's armor. The robot stood no chance as it was demolished.

The pair skidded to a stop in victory and high-fived each other. The hedgehog had to jump to make the slap, but it worked.

"Nice work, Nove!" Sonic noted.

"You too, hedgehog." Nove agreed.

Nanoha and Cinque just sighed at their antics. Destroying the robot was not what they intended.

"Sonic-kun..." Nanoha started.

"Nove..." Cinque added.

"Yes?" Both replied at the same time.

"Did you really have to destroy it?" Nanoha deadpanned.

"You told us to stop it, you didn't say anything about keeping it in one piece." Sonic retorted, which caused the captain to sigh.

"At any rate.. our enemy probably knows we're here now" Nanoha noted, "Sonic doesn't that robot seem a little bit odd?"

"Yeah.. it's one of Eggman's older sentries.. He usually wouldn't use any older models unless he's desperate.. which I doubt because we haven't seen him since the JS incident."

"At any rate, it's best we press on, the area we set up for the trap is this way." Cinque took the guide and led them to a small clearing that was littered with black spots from explosions of the night before.

"I thought Knuckles and I gave them some hurt or chipped some armor." Cinque explained as they looked around the clearing.

"Nothing.. how did they leave?" Sonic thought out loud.

"I don't know... There's nothing else here.." Cinque replied.

"Let's move on then.." Nanoha noted and the group pressed on.

Their investigation and scouting were almost complete, sure there were a few sentries to take care of, but they proved to be no issue. The group found themselves at a bridge leading out of the zone, having cleared the rest.

A mysterious male voice called out, "That's as far as you go".

The group stood defensively as a small figure in all black, full body armor with blue trims leaped down from a higher elevation and stood in front of them in defiance.

Cinque recognized the figure instantly, "That's a marauder.. one of the assailants that captured Knuckles!"

"Is that what you're calling us? Quaint.." The figure quipped.

"What have you done with our friend?" Nanoha asked with a glare.

"That is none of your concern, I've been given orders by Shade to stop you." The marauder replied.

"Who's this "Shade"person?" Nanoha asked again.

"Oh come on.. really? You really expect me to answer that? We only just met." the figure replied again in annoyance.

"Oy.. if you don't step out of our way we'll just plow right through you.." Sonic showed his own impatience.

"Them's fightin' words hedgehog."

"We'll give more than just words if you don't move it, punk!" Nove retorted.

"Well I'm not gonna move.. Shade told me to stop you only.." The figure held out and wielded twin black and blue trim blades, "But I'd rather just knock you out."

"Bring it!" Nove and Sonic retorted.

The four mages stared down the marauder in preparation for combat. The Marauder did the same...

* * *

**[To Be Continued]**

**[Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS]**

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[No Omake this time]**

Author's Notes: I'm skipping the omake because I was pressed for time in releasing this.. I promise there will be one next time. Now anyways here's the first chapter to my new crossover sequel. This follows the Lyrical Step continuity so Nanoha is not a cyborg here. Hope you enjoy this one.


	2. Record 2

SonicANIME2010 here bringing in another chapter to the sequel to Lyrical Step, well looks like I threw a few twists in with using Sonic Chronicles, and no one expected it. Well time to keep this going. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha, here we go!

**[TSAB Administrated World #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Battalion 386 HQ]**

The base near the forest zone was a rather smaller one located in the middle of a small city. Fate, Shadow and Signum touched down from a Dimension Transfer outside of the base. At the door to greet them was a teenage girl wearing a blue skirt and blazer uniform, her eyes are a light blue and her hair was orange and flowing just about halfway down her back.

Enforcer Aide Teana Lanster saluted Fate and the others upon arrival, "Welcome to the Headquarters of the 386th Battalion."

"Nice to see you again, Teana." Fate replied.

"Same to you, enjoyed your honeymoon?" the orangehead asked.

"Definitely, it was fun" the enforcer answered.

Shadow was quick to get on topic, "We can talk about your vacations later.. right now we have to focus on the Marauders."

"Right." Teana noted, "This way" and led them into a situation room with a huge computer screen in the middle.

"How many Chaos Emeralds do they have?" Shadow asked.

"After last night, they secured 3.. which means we have to find the other 4 before they do." the enforcer aide replied.

"Good.. that gives us some time." Fate looked at her watch, "The others should be here soon. Why don't we wait for them before we get the full debrief?"

The others agreed and went off to the mess hall for some tea and refreshments to wait for Nanoha's team

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 2  
The search for Knuckles; Marauders continue their campaign!

**[Mid-Childa: Altseim Frontier]  
[BGM: "Last Hunters" Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST]**

The small marauder in black faced Sonic, Nanoha, Cinque and Nove in a fierce, shared glare. The combatants faced off in a forest-like area in this frontier. The marauder blocked their path to the city and base area where the others of the force were at.

The blue hedgehog made his first move with a spin-dash clean on the small figure's midsection. His opponent winced from the impact but managed to kick the spin-ball up in the air, only to be met with several daggers near his feet.

"IS Activate: Rumble Detonator!" Cinque cried out and caused the daggers to explode and sent the marauder up in a pop fly, which set him up for a follow-up from Nove.

The red-haired combat cyborg took to the air in her follow up with her IS "Break Liner", which created a yellow strip of path similar to Wing Road, for her to ride on with her blades. Her follow-up attack was a powerful left kick and a burst of energy bullets from her Gun Knuckle. The bullets impacted her foe's midsection for a momentarily daze. Which left him open for a slam downwards by the same blue spin-ball that he kicked up a second ago.

Nanoha watched as the black-armored foe landed on the ground and quickly recovered from the miscues he made that left him open in the first place. In her mind, she analyzed him, he was small, quick, but probably not a tough fighter, ideally built like a scout, meaning that he wouldn't be too experienced in fighting multiple foes at once.

"_Everyone"_ Nanoha sent out telepathically, _"Keep the pressure on him, he's only a scout. It doesn't look like he's faced any mages, so we have the advantage."_

"_Got it!" _Sonic replied as he stood by her with Cinque and Nove in tow.

Now came the scout's turn for his attack, with a turn of something on his right wrist a faint light-blue glow encased his fist and in addition created a small blade from behind the wrist. With his right fist primed, he rushed in on Nanoha and delivered a right hook that hit her shield. The blade began it's work by slowly draining the energy from the shield, this went noticed by Raising Heart.

"**Master! The attack is draining our barrier of energy! Barrier Burst!"** the device flickered and the barrier burst open and sent the marauder back to the ground.

"_His blade has a leech effect. We have to take him down before he tries that again!"_ Nanoha noted in telepathy.

"_Got it! Cinque, Nove, follow my lead!"_ Sonic ushered telepathically to the others and ran up close to the marauder.

The hedgehog didn't "attack" persay, he faked an attack on his rush in, in a show of speed, he ran literally circles around the scout, his tactic of distracting his foe worked like a charm as the marauder started to feel dizzy from all the spinning. Sonic finished another lap and ran to the side, allowing Nove to rush in with a fierce punch down in the midsection of the scout, causing him to double over in the harsh sting and dazing him a bit before Nove pulled out.

Nanoha took her turn with a volley of the Axel Shooter, the shots hit dead on the shoulders. Cinque followed up with her IS daggers. Their explosions hit dead on and sent the marauder to the ground hard. He seemed to be unconscious, but before anyone thought about checking, a light-blue field appeared around his body, the scout disappeared in it.

"Where did he go?" Nove questioned.

"It looks like he warped out." Nanoha observed,

"Coward.." Sonic huffed.

"This gives us something to work off of. Let's meet up with the others at the base." Nanoha noted and the group pressed on, unfettered into the city and base.

**[Battalion 386 HQ]  
[BGM: "Apotos (Day) Hub World" Sonic Unleashed]**

Nanoha and her group caught Fate's group in the midst of a mid-morning brunch break. They decided to join in the break and socialize before moving on to debrief at the Cradle.

"So, where did you go for your honeymoon?" Teana asked, hoping to be let in on some of the details of the vacation her Enforcer took.

"The best beach resort, spa and hotel on Mid-Childa. It was a blast" Fate replied.

"Definitely, flew in and had two weeks all to ourselves to have fun." Sonic added

"Sunbathing at the beach, we joined in some of the games some civilians were playing for fun. And we also were treated to some great cuisines in their diner." Nanoha noted as well.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun." Teana observed

"Yup!" Fate, Sonic and Nanoha replied at the same time.

The watch on Signum's wrist beeped, signaling for attention, "Break's over, let's get moving." With that the groups went inside the base itself.

**[Battalion 386: Situation Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X OST]**

The combined group met together in this large meeting room with a long table, a live communication feed to the Throne Room of the Saint's Cradle was established so that Hayate and the others on-board can talk freely.

"Alright, what do we know so far?" Hayate asked through the feed

"3 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds are in the possession of the Marauders, but at least we now know what allowed them to travel about near instantly." Fate reported.

"They have some sort of technology that allows them to warp freely between areas, while the warping wasn't magic. We can still trace the trajectory to find out where they were heading." Nanoha added

"We fought one earlier. They have some pretty high-tech weapons, one of which allowed them to "leech" off energy.." Sonic noted as well.

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Hayate asked.

"We haven't confirmed the locations of the others yet, but one of the four remaining has been tracked to this city we're in." Fate replied

"Good... we have to find it before the thieves do.. You guys split up and cover the city in search of the emerald." Hayate ordered out and closed the feed.

"We'll be in the same groups as before.. We'll take the south end. Fate-chan's group takes the north end." Nanoha announced.

"Right!" All groups split up and moved on

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]**

"Hayate-oba-chan... I'm worried for Sonic-papa, Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama.." Vivio spoke in her worries while keeping the Cradle at a neutral float.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Vivio, after all, they are the best we have." Hayate noted.

Vivio continued to have the Cradle floating over the location where the deployed mages, cyborgs and hedgehogs were.

**[Town where the HQ was based]  
[POV: Nanoha's Group]  
[BGM: "Welcome to Station Square"]**

Nanoha, Cinque, Sonic and Nove exited the base and went into the city, they wore the uniforms that identified them as TSAB officers, so it was no surprise that a nearby civilian waved them down.

"Excuse me. Are you from the Bureau?" the man in civil clothes asked.

"Yes, we're from the Special Mobile Force 6. I'm Takamachi Nanoha, Captain. With me are Vice-Captain Takamachi Sonic, Recruit Cinque Nakajima, and Recruit Nove Nakajima." Nanoha confirmed.

"Oh thank goodness.. there's a crisis! There are large mosquitoes and bugs on the roof tops!" the man cried out.

"Let me get this right... you're saying there's overgrown bugs lurking on the rooftops? And why do you want us to deal with them?" Sonic asked, his skepticism showing.

"Because they block access to the rooftops." the civilian stated, matter-of-factly.

"Why would people go up on the rooftops?" the hedgehog asked in a deadpan.

"Well...because... they're rooftops!" The civilian answered, "Everyone goes on the rooftops, what kind of question is that?"

Sonic turned to Nanoha with a deadpan of a question, "Nanoha, you ever go on rooftops?"

"Like most people, I do not." Nanoha replied with a shrug.

The hedgehog turned to the resident combat cyborgs, "You two?"

"Nope.. we don't either.. .." Cinque shrugged.

"Most of us fly anyways.." Nove added.

"See.. not everyone goes on rooftops." Sonic informed the civilian.

"Just please take care of them before they cause any trouble" the man requested.

After a brief sigh, the hedgehog relented, "Fine.. we'll go.."

The route to the rooftops wasn't too difficult really. Nanoha flew up with Cinque held while Nove used her IS and Sonic used his speed.

When they landed on the roof-tops, sure enough the concerned citizen was right. There was a complete infestation of overgrown bugs and flies. Some were trying to go for the electrical units that some houses had, which were deflected by a spin-dash and dagger volley.

"Where did these come from?" Sonic asked.

"I'm getting a reading of a source.. this way!" Nanoha guided her group to another rooftop where a large queen wasp guarded some odd device.

"This should be a piece of cake." Sonic cracked his knuckles while the others assumed stances.

Sonic led off with a powerful spin-dash and up-draft kick to send the already flying wasp airborne. Nove followed up with a wave of bullets from her Gun Knuckle. The burst hit strategically the wings of the wasp, which forced her to the ground. Cinque finished it off with a wave of daggers whose explosions decimated the bug.

After taking care of the queen wasp, the device was taken care of. The fact that there was a portal generator on Mid-Childa brought suspicions to the others.

"Something's off... why would there be a generator here?" Sonic thought out loud.

"Could be a distraction.. or someone playing with a new toy..." Cinque guessed.

"In any case, we better go back and tell that citizen that the roof-tops are clear." Nanoha noted and the team left to tell the roof-top hopper who probably didn't have any insurance that he could be an idiot and hop roof tops again.

**[POV: Fate's Team]**

While Nanoha's team played roof-top exterminator, Fate and her own group made patrols around the city in attempts to search for the emerald that was tracked here. They too were soon waved down by a uniformed mage of the Bureau. This mage held an infantry mage's staff in his left hand.

"Enforcer Harlaown!" the mage saluted, "I'm Private Logan from this battalion"

"Pleasure to meet you." Fate equally saluted back, "What seems to be the problem?"

"There have been reports of robots mugging civilians in the city. I've checked up and was attacked myself.. I managed to drive them away, but I couldn't defeat them.. I tried, but it was no use.. I was too weak.." the mage looked downcast.

Fate recalled some memories of the JS Incident on the Cradle, "Your arm, wasn't it injured during the attack on the Saint's Cradle"

"Yes.. one of Doctor Eggman's robots got lucky and blind-sighted me with it's attack... I've just been released to active duty after my arm was treated" The private confirmed.

"We'll take care of those robots, but we'll need to talk to your commanding officer, even if you've just healed, you shouldn't be out here performing work that could risk of another injury until you've finished physical therapy." Fate replied.

"Yes ma'am.." Private Logan sighed.

"But you did well in informing us of the problem, we'll take care of it. You can return to your base and rest up" the blonde enforcer offered.

"Thank you." The private dismissed himself while Fate and her team went on to investigate the problem.

In the midst of their walk in the alleys Fate asked the others, "You're not going to get after me for being too nice there.. are you?"

"Why?" Shadow asked neutrally.

"It didn't surprise us." Signum added, "and it wasn't uncalled for either."

"Yeah." Teana agreed.

"Well.. let's check out that threat then." Fate said.

The team investigated the alleyways for a brief time, sure enough they found what they were looking for. Several large, bulky robots with skiny arms that held guns, the robots were old enough to have rust developing around their arms, legs and even head units. The arms had the Eggman insignia, but it looked faded.

"Those look familiar.." Shadow thought to himself, "They look like some of the E-series enforcers Eggman used to protect his base on Earth."

"Does he use them now?" Teana asked

"No.. when he moved his operations here he brought over his latest models. These ones remained at his older base." the ebony hedgehog replied back.

"At any rate, we better take care of them." Fate held Bardiche and converted it to Haken Form. The others prepared as well. Signum drew her blade, Shadow went into a battle-stance and Teana held her twin guns, aim primed for the age-old mechs.

The robots went down rather quietly as Fate sliced a few with her scythe device, Signum slashing through a couple with Laevatein, Shadow's spin-dash was all it took from him, and Teana got a few shots in to take out the rest.

"Something tells me that those robots weren't just there for no reason.." Teana observed.

"Yeah.. We better report this in" Fate added.

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" FFX OST]**

An alarm rang out through the room as a map of the city the teams were in displayed itself and a red dot indicated that a crime was in progress.

"That isn't good.." Hayate tried to pull up more information of the crime in progress, "There's a burglary being attempted at the jewelry store.. and it looks like this one had the Chaos Emerald in it."

"We have to tell Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama and Sonic-papa." Vivio noted.

"I'll bring them up" Hayate brought up screens to send out calls.

**[Town]**

Nanoha's group just finished informing the dare-devil of a rooftop hopper that the roofs were clear when they received a call from Hayate.

"Nanoha-chan, Sonic-kun. There's a robbery in progress at the jewelry store, I'm sending the coordinates to your devices, go there and stop the thieves.. Their target is a Chaos Emerald!" the brunette ordered.

"Right, we'll be right there." Nanoha acknowledged and closed the feed.

"It could be the Marauders.. let's hurry!" Sonic noted as well.

The team took off as fast as they could for the jewelry store. They soon combined with Fate's team, who also received word of the robbery in progress. Time was of the essence, so both teams used all haste they could in heading for the jewelery store.

**[Exotic Gem Emporium]  
[BGM: "(the) Base" **Sonic Adventure 2]

The teams arrived at the store, but they just missed the thief, though they could tell it was a Marauder Scout from the description of the thief's short size and warping capabilities. The only witnesses was the female cashier, who Nanoha and Sonic interviewed with Teana taking notes.

"So you saw the thief "appear" at the front door, kicked in the glass and ransacked the place for the Emerald?" Nanoha asked.

"Yeah.. we only got that gem a few weeks ago after the owners found it on the ground in the woods." The attendant answered.

"Did he try to attack you?" the hedgehog followed up.

"No.. He just demanded where the gem was.. I didn't want to cause trouble, so I told him."

"And he disappeared from there?" Nanoha finished.

"Yeah.. even went through the trouble of thanking me for my help.." The cashier was confused.

"Hang out." Sonic pointed to the cashier and dismissed himself with Nanoha and Teana in tow, the trio went to the others.

"Anything?" Nanoha asked.

"The witness's story's confirmed.. broke in, ransacked in the search, stole the emerald and warp out.." Fate replied.

"We better report this to Hayate-chan then.." Nanoha noted.

"Right." Both teams Dimension Transferred out.

**[The Saint's Cradle]**

The teams debrief their reports to Hayate, who took them all in thought.

"We know they'll be after the rest of the Chaos Emeralds, but let's be cautious too, I'll contact the 108th battalion and ask them to send a fleet to guard Angel Island and the Master Emerald." The brunette announced.

"So.. now what do we do?" Sonic asked.

"We'll keep flying around until we can find a trace of where the thief went to... for now we'll just have to wait." Hayate noted.

The teams were dismissed for the time being, some chose to remain in the Throne Room, such as Sonic, Nanoha and Fate, who were eager to spend some time with their adopted daughter.

The others went about their training and whatnot until anything further could come up.

**[Undisclosed Location]**  
**[No BGM]**

The thief from before warped into a dark room and placed the fourth Chaos Emerald on a stand next to the other three the Marauders have captured.

A faint figure in all black and hot-pink trimmed armor appeared behind the thief.

"Procurator Shade!" The thief saluted, "The fourth emerald is secured.. and as ordered, I made sure not to harm any innocents."

"Excellent work." the figure known as Shade acknowledged in a female voice, "Our diversions with the Wasps and Robots worked. The last thing we want is to get into any major confrontations. We made the mistake of sending your comrade out there to confront them.. and he was beaten because we underestimated them.. we won't make that mistake again. Keep working from the shadows.. try not to draw any more attention.. if the enemy tries to engage you, do not engage them and flee."

"Yes ma'am!" the scout replied, "If I may, why did you ask fro the capture of that echidna from before?"

"That will be answered soon enough. Now continue with your duties." Shade ordered.

"Right away, Procurator Shade." The scout saluted and dismissed himself.

4 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds have been captured.. as the Marauders campaign continues, will the Bureau be able to stop them and free Knuckles?

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Recruits of the New Squad]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Cinque and Hayate talked amongst themselves in the throne room.

"So.. Hayate, who else did you manage to grab for the squad you put together?" Sonic asked.

"Well I got Cinque, Wendi, Nove and Dieci from Genya-san, but I couldn't get the cyborgs from the Saint Church to join in.. Carim wanted them to do a little bit more work for her.." Hayate replied.

"_Well it's good that she didn't recruit Sein."_ Cinque sent to Nanoha and Sonic telepathically.

"_Yeah.. no one would be safe"_ Nanoha replied back.

"Besides... Carim told me that Sein was her ace in enforcing the Cosplay on the other church members." Hayate added with a giggle.

"_I take that back.. It's possible Sein is more dangerous hanging around Carim-san."_ Cinque mentally groaned.

"_Agreed!"_ Sonic and Nanoha deadpanned.

But if Sein was here then the whole ship would be a groper's paradise!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 2]**

Author's Notes: Lesser of two evils.. have Sein in the Saint Church where she'll be Carim's top cosplay enforcer, or she could have a field day on the Saint's Cradle.. Either way.. it's interesting.. Anyways here we are with chapter 2. Chapter 3 will come soon enough


	3. Record 3

SonicANIME2010 here with another chapter to my new story, Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record. And once again here we are in the Chronicles arc. I'll put in a few more arcs to the story as it progresses. This'll be big. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha. Here we go!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[The Saint's Cradle in flight]  
[Throne Room]**

Hayate gathered Nanoha, Sonic, Teana, Fate, Shadow, Signum, Cinque and Nove in the Throne Room turned meeting room. Vivio also sat at the throne as she kept the massive warship at a slow and steady flight over the fields of the planet below.

"Have we found any sign of Knuckles?" Hayate asked.

"Nothing.. we can't seem to track his device. Something must be interfering." Fate replied with a frown.

"We still can't find the last 3 emeralds." Sonic added to the negatives.

"Can't trace the warp that the thief used either." Nanoha added with a frown.

"Damn... if those Marauders are indeed after the Master Emerald, we need to be prepared." Hayate pulled up a call screen to a gray-haired man in a suit, Genya Nakajima.

"Genya-san.. How soon can you scramble a wave of mages to guard the surface of Angel Island." she asked.

"I can get them to the island surface within two hours if they fly fast enough." The commander replied.

"Thank you, please do so." Hayate requested.

"Will do." Genya ended the call.

The Cradle of the Saints continued to fly as Hayate thought to herself, _"We will find you Knuckles.. hang in there.."_

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 3  
Search for Knuckles and the Chaos Emeralds continue

**[Angel Island]  
[BGM: "Mystic Ruins" Sonic Adventure]**

The first wave of mages arrived quickly on the ground near the lake where the island floated over. The squadron was led by Quint and Ginga.

"Alright. Let's set up a command post and wait for our reinforcements to show up." Quint ordered.

Ginga took to her Wing Road, "I'll scout around the island to see if any of the Marauders are around."

"Alright, be safe." Quint dismissed her daughter.

Ginga took a long lap around the island, her wheels rolling as she rode along the mana pathway.

"So far so good." Ginga reported in her tour.

The roller-blader mage sped into the altar area where the Master Emerald laid. The massive green jewel let off a soft glow that was normal for such a powerful relic. But it didn't subtract from the mysterious beauty the emerald gave off. Out of respect, the mage bowed before the Relic and rolled off.

* * *

**[Coastal Airport 8 Ruins]**

An old scout robot flew through the ruins of the airport, scouting for Chaos Emeralds. A bright glow came from one of the ruined buildings and alerted the scout robot.

The robot's automatic programming made it sent out a signal to it's master.

**[Undisclosed location]**

A Marauder Scout caught sight of the signal from the robot on a map, "Procurator Shade! We have a reading from a sentry. Emerald spotted!"

"Where?" the procurator asked.

"Some burnt down building complex, and from the looks, there aren't any civilians to risk a crossfire." the scout reported.

"Good.. send a team in to retrieve it." Shade ordered.

"Yes ma'am." the scout acknowledgef

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" FFX OST]**

Alarms rang out through the Cradle as a screen displayed the Coastal Airport in a live feed. Hayate gathered Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Cinque and Nove in the room.

"A Chaos Emerald has been detected!" Hayate noted, "The signal came from what's left of the Airport."

"We have to go down there and check it out." Sonic noted.

"You five will go down there and find it. Be careful, I get the feeling the Marauders are going to be there to try to stop you." Hayate advised.

"Yeah.. I don't think it's going to be easy." Sonic noted as well

"Vivio set the course, we should be there in a few minutes" Vivio informed

The massive warship put all haste in traveling to it's destination. In a mere 10 minutes, the coastal airport came in sight.

"Here we are.. Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Cinque and Nove go down there and retrieve the emerald before the Marauders." Hayate ordered.

"We find any of them we have to take them down quickly to avoid their leech blades." Nanoha noted as well.

"Good, now go!" Hayate called out and the mages launched.

* * *

**[Coastal Airport 8]  
[BGM: "City Escape ~Modern" Sonic Generations OST]**

Through a brief drop from the Cradle's exterior, the 5-man team landed squarely at a straight-away path and stretched for a few brief moments before rushing into the airport ruins to track the signal from the emerald.

Nanoha and Fate both flew while Cinque rode Nove's back on the Break Liner IS that Nove used. Sonic took to running behind the Combat Cyborg on the IS energy strip.

Their trek, however, was not so easy as there was plenty of rusted out sentry robots along the way. Sonic's spin-dash and Sonic Wind variations made short work of them. Another wave ambushed them soon afterward and the wave consisted of E-series gunner robots. Cinque turned them into scraps with her Rumble Detonator daggers.

While their investigation into the scene continued, the robotic oppression wasn't too powerful, but time consuming as most had to slow down a bit to deal with them, the delays did not go unnoticed.

"It's almost like the Marauders sent these robots out to us to buy time for them to retrieve the emerald." Nanoha pointed out.

"If that's the case we better speed up!" Sonic noted.

"Agreed.." Fate and the others nodded and kicked their speed up a notch.

With their increased haste, the team of five blazed ahead and through any further interference until they came to the clearing where the Chaos Emerald signal came from. They weren't alone though. A group of six Marauder Scouts blocked their path.

"Step aside, Marauders!" Fate ordered out with authority.

"Not a chance.." the first middle scout said in defiance, his tone gave him the impression that he was the leader. A point further proven when he ordered the first one on his left to take the emerald and run while he and the other four would hold the mages at bay.

**[BGM: "Last Hunters" Final Fantasy XIII-2 OST]**

Each mage and marauder picked their opponents and went after each other in a one-on-one fashion. Nanoha chose to go after the leader while Fate and Sonic went after the two on the left and right respectively while Nove and Cinque went after the outside corner scouts.

Spin-dash met hand as Sonic's attack was held at bay by his opponent, but he broke off it soon enough and countered with a powerful axe-kick sideways to knock the scout away for a brief moment. Sonic followed up with another spin-dash while his opponent was dazed from the kick. The fast attack hit home and hit home hard as the Marauder stumbled back from the impact.

The hedgehog wasn't finished there though, "Sonic wind!" he generated a wave of arrows of energy and primed them for launch "Go!" with a fist thrust he sent them in and the arrows hit the marauder hard and sent the scout to the ground unconscious. The scout warped out before it could get any worse for him.

Now came for Nanoha's turn. She opened up with a wave of her Axel Shooter, which hit it's mark on the scout, but only to the effect of staggering him back slightly. However that was more than enough of an opportunity for the white mage to use her Exceed mode staff's "ACS Driver" to charge in and slammed the side of the marauder hard and also gave him a harsh push-back effect.

On one note, the temperature at this airport ruins was 85 degrees, but it didn't seem to bother anyone as the coastal location provided a calm, cool breeze. You could just see the palm-trees along the beach shore swing in the breeze, as Nanoha's attacker swung a left hook and missed her head. What? Oh it's a mirage, oh okay.

Nanoha and her foe clashed in close combat, while the advantage would appear to be in the favor of the scout, it was anything but that. The white mage held her foe at by while her shooting spells clipped him over time. She eventually decided to end it with her Divine Buster. The powerful beam crashed into her foe and sent him to the ground unconscious. Another warp allowed the scout to escape safely.

Blades clashed as Fate's haken form Bardiche met with the arm-blade of her scout. The two were locked in a heated close-quarters melee. The mage made sure that her strikes and parries were quick so that the leech effect of the blade did not kick in and drain her, and her tactic seemed to work. Fate could easily tell that her opponent wasn't the most skilled around so it was easy for her to find and exploit openings in his defense. She scored a diagonal slash on the right shoulder and followed it up by a slash on the opposite shoulder. The slashes hit home and staggered her foe enough to open the door to another attack that sent him unconscious and to the ground. Again he was warped to safely.

Cinque's experience in combat showed greatly in how she held off her own foe with her defensive abilities. Close quarter combat wasn't exactly where she excelled at best, but she held her foe at bay enough for her IS daggers to blind-sight him and deliver the harsh impact of their explosions. Her small size had little to no effect over her foe who was even shorter than her, but her agility far out-matched his as did her endurance. She skillfully overpowered her foe and scored a direct hit on her last wave of the Rumble detonator, she blasted him unconscious and forced him to warp away once more.

Nove had an even easier time as her Gun Knuckles, combined with her Strike Arts, made her a force to be reckoned with in terms of close-quarter melee combat. She pummeled her scout with a fierce combination of fist strikes and kicks. She also made great use and combination of her shooting abilities to clip and graze the vital points of her foe, dealing some shots to the endurance and staggered him enough for her to finish him with a fierce kick to the head and sent him unconscious. The warp let him escape again.

When each mage finished their foe off. They met up to discuss the situation.

"These guys were easy, but they certainly kept us from the emerald." Sonic observed.

"I know.. that leaves them with 5 Chaos Emeralds. We can't let them get the other two.." Nanoha noted, "But.. we do know this.. they weren't fighting to defeat us, rather buy their 6th some time to escape with the emerald."

"Let's head back and report to Hayate what we discovered." Fate declared and the team flew/ran back up to the Cradle of the Saints.

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico"]**

The team reported in at the Throne Room and informed Hayate of what occurred at the airport.

"I see... so maybe these Marauders might not have too negative of intentions if they were only fighting to escape." Hayate thought out loud.

"Intentions or not, we have to get the last emeralds before they do." Sonic noted.

"And also locate Knuckles, he's one of the few who can sense the locations of the Chaos Emeralds because of his link with the Master Emerald." Hayate added.

The squad continued their flight and investigation.

* * *

**[Undisclosed location]  
[No BGM]**

A dimly lit cell served as the holding place for a particular red echidna. Knuckles paced around in impatience. He appeared to be unharmed since his capture, they treated him quite well actually. On timed intervals a tray of food was slipped under to keep him from starving. However, he still was in the dark as to the real reason why he was captured.

Outside of his cell to collect the empty tray was Procurator Shade, who give the echidna inside an analyzing look-over and went to her thoughts.

"_He seems to be holding up well. The last two emeralds will be rather easy with him... I just have to play my cards right.."_ Shade messed with something on the door before returning to greet the injured members of the team that secured the 5th Chaos Emerald.

What could Shade have done? What plans does she have for Knuckles? All will be answered soon.

* * *

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Sonic's Harem?]**

It's no secret that Sonic the Hedgehog has attracted the feelings of many girls with his bravery and cuteness. So much so that he's got two wives, Fate and Nanoha, who he loves dearly. But could there be others to add in as well?

Nove, Cinque and Wendi discussed this topic in particular amongst themselves.

"So. Cinque, I heard you have a crush on Sonic-kun." Wendi teased much to her sister's embarrassment.

"It's not a crush! I just have.. um.. respect for his abilities.. He's skilled and experienced." Cinque tried to argue, but the blush she sported was all too tell-tale.

Nove equally blushed at the mention of the hedgehog, a sight which was pointed out and exploited by the mischievous Wendi.

"Oh.. Nove too? You both are easy to read." the cyborg smirked as she teased.

Hayate also soon caught hearing of the mentioned crushes but she had her own thoughts as well, "Are you sure you don't feel the same, Wendi?" the brunette smirked.

That question made Wendi match Nove and Cinque in blush colors and left them all speechless.

"Ufufu.. So you do, this will be fun for me. See you around." Hayate left with a few giggles, though she sported her own blush.

Sonic.. a S+ rank chick magnet!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari"]**

**[End of Chapter 3]**

* * *

Author's Notes: Oh Hayate is right.. this will be fun, aren't harems always in this situation. They all have competition. But they could work it all out.. maybe... stay tuned


	4. Record 4

SonicANIME2010 here, first to apologize for the brief lack of updates on my stories, I've been out of town for a week, on a vacation in California.

Secondly, I'd like to thank everyone who's continued to read and support my stories. It means a lot.

And now with the usual disclaimers, I don't own Sonic or Nanoha, here we go on Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[The Saint's Cradle: In the skies]**

After losing the 5th Chaos Emerald to the Marauders, the Special Mobile Force 6 ran out of leads to follow and decided to call it a night on their first day of the investigation. The second day would probably be more promising than the first and the mages needed the rest, especially the young Vivio.

The sleeping arrangements were rather simple on the matter, Vivio was allowed to sleep with her parents in their shared quarters while the Cradle was set to an automatic idle per controls.

The early morning gave rise to the four members of the Takamachi family as they woke up and quickly changed into uniforms before heading into the designated mess hall for breakfast.

**[Mess Hall]**

The four Takamachis met up with Hayate, Vita and Cinque at a table after being served their breakfast, which consisted of bacon, eggs and morning tea.

Hayate conversed as they ate "So...I hear you three had a fun time at your romantic getaway"

Vivio blushed a bit at the mention of her family's vacation, "Hayate-oba-chan.. You're going to make them embarrass me.." she whined

"Oh, come on Vivio-chan, it's not that bad." Sonic patted his adopted daughter on the head.

"Mou.." The girl pouted in response.

Just before the family could gush about the details to Hayate about their trip, an alarm rang out throughout the ship.

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 4  
Knuckles Found, but Marauders strike back!

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

A map appeared in the middle of the room with the squad members gathered. Vivio had already taken her spot on the throne.

The map had a red dot, which when scanned it revealed the presence of a mage, particularly a familiar red echidna.

"It's Knuckles, we've got his signal." Nanoha noted.

"Where?" Hayate asked.

"Near Angel Island, there's a large forest bordering the lake region where the island is floating." Nanoha informed after taking a look at the map.

"Try to contact him." Hayate ordered.

"Trying.." Sonic noted as he used his device to punch in a call on Knuckles's device, to some success, the visual feed couldn't pick up, but they got audio.

"What?!" the echidna's voice sounded impatient and rash as usual.

"What happened? We have your location pinned" Hayate set aside the rude echidna's impatience for the moment.

"I escaped from the Marauders' base. Now I'm looking for the last two Chaos Emeralds." the echidna replied

"Don't I need you to come back and report." Hayate tried to reason with him.

"I can't! I just detected two Chaos Emeralds and am locating them as we speak!" the echidna argued.

"Knuckles, I insist you come back! They already have 5 and are probably using you to nab the last 2!" Hayate retorted.

"I can't, it's my sworn duty to protect the emeralds. And I will do it alone.. this is my fight" Knuckles still continued to argue.

Sonic gave his own two cents in the conversation and he did not sound happy "Knuckles, don't be pig-headed and think about what you are doing!"

The echidna was about to respond when something else in the background got his attention, "I'll call you back.." the call was cut off from there.

"Damn!" Sonic snapped his fingers in frusttration.

"Get a lock on his location." Hayate ordered.

"Done!" Fate was a few steps ahead of Hayate there.

"Sonic, Fate, Nanoha, Nove and Cinque, you five will go down there and get Knuckles back. Teana, Shadow, Signum and Vita will be on standby in case you need backup" The brunette gave out the orders.

"Okay, everyone let's go!" Nanoha and the others launched off from the exterior of the Cradle.

Nanoha and Fate both flew while Sonic used his Extreme Gear in the air. Nove and Cinque utilized the Break Liner IS and descended into the forest.

**[Forest Ravine bordering Angel Island]  
[BGM: "White Jungle" Sonic Adventure 2]**

The team made their progress through the forest in their mission, however, it was not easy. It was only a few minutes into the forest when they first encountered a few robots, these robots were again similar to the old E-Series that Eggman used in guarding his base on Earth. This alone had Sonic's attention and suspicion, not dissimilar to Shadow's suspicions earlier.

"Girls, hold up." Sonic called time to confirm his thoughts.

"What is it?" Fate asked, a bit curious on what her husband was thinking.

"These robots aren't the ones Eggman brought with him to Mid-Childa." The hedgehog observed.

"How can you tell?" Cinque inquired since she didn't know enough about Eggman's robots to see what he meant.

"The model, color scheme, they're all too old, he uses the more bulkier and armored mechs nowadays.." Sonic thought out loud.

"Now that I think of it, when he first attacked Mid-Childa the robots he used were dark blue, not red." Fate mentioned.

Nanoha blasted through one with a shooting spell and also took notice "The armor's weaker too."

"Eggman wouldn't use older robots, he likes to keep up to date on his tech. These robots look old and rusty enough to fall apart." Sonic noted.

"So it's possible the Marauders stole these older robots from Eggman before they came here." Fate concluded.

"Which means they must have paid a visit to Earth as well." Nanoha added.

"No time to worry about that now, we've got a stubborn echidna to find.." Sonic noted.

"You're right. Let's go." Fate took the lead through the forest.

The team pressed on into the forest. Blazing through the mechs they encountered along the way.

From then it only took around 6 minutes before they came to a clearing where their objective was found.

From the rear view, an all too familiar red echidna pummeled the wires out of a rusted-out mech.

"And stay down!" Knuckles snorted at the busted robot.

"Oy! Knuckles!" Sonic shouted to the stubborn mutt.

The shout made Knuckles turned his head towards his azure rival. In his hands were the last two Chaos Emeralds "Hey, Sonic, been a while."

Sonic, in a display of annoyance, strolled up and smacked the echidna on the back of the head "Knuckles, baka! Don't pull that stunt again!"

"Ow!" Knuckles held his head from the smack, "What was that for?!"

"For being a pig-headed baka!" Sonic folded his arms in annoyance as he took a few steps away and towards the other four in his team.

The echidna didn't seem too phased by the rantings of his rival, "I don't know what you're so upset about, I got the emeralds, see?" he held out the Chaos Emeralds in his hands for all to see.

"Well.. I'll give you that.. still, you should have waited." the hedgehog relented briefly.

"I know what I'm doing, Sonic, you guys have nothing to worry about." Knuckles smirked in a bout of overconfidence, however, in a display of bad karma, a warp field appeared right in between the team and echidna.

Out from the field came one lone Marauder, this one appeared female and her armor had a pinkish hue to it, the top Marauder in charge, Procurator Shade, made her appearance, and made it quick by knocking the emeralds from the hands of the red echidna.

"Gah!" Knuckles winced, "Give them back!"

Shade turned around after securing the emeralds and took another look at Knuckles, then shifted her gaze towards the other mages, who each got into stances and prepared for a fight.

"Shade, I assume?" Nanoha asked

"That is correct" the procurator confirmed.

"Why are you stealing the Chaos Emeralds?" Fate asked

"That is none of your concern.." The procurator pressed a button on her belt, "Apologies, our meeting must be cut short..." a field appeared behind her as she spoke into her wrist communicator "All teams, fall back!"

Before the team could do anything to stop her, Shade threw a flash grenade to the ground to distract the team and give her the time she needed to escape. The grenade gave a blinding flash and forced the group to shade their eyes while the Procurator made her escape.

After the flash subsided, the team un-covered their eyes, but it was far too late. Shade had already gotten away and the Marauders now had all of the Chaos Emeralds.

The blue hedgehog snapped his fingers in frustration, "Dang.. that's not good.."

**[BGM: "Enemy Attack" FFX OST]**

To make matters worse, the team felt a massive rumbling in the ground, much to their alert.

"Now, what's going on?!" Sonic asked as the team suddenly received a call from Quint.

"We have a situation, get over here quick!" the woman requested.

With Knuckles added, the team met up with Quint, her daughter and their squad at the command post located at the lake where Angel Island floated.. rather.. used to float... One problem, one rather noticeable problem.

"Angel Island.. it's gone!" Knuckles observed in complete shock.

"It happened so fast.. the ground shook and the island just disappeared in a flash of light" Ginga explained.

"We better head back and report in.." Nanoha noted

With that. The groups, Ginga and Quint included because they were part of the team that witnessed the island's disappearance, dimension transferred back to the Cradle.

**[The Saint's Cradle]**

The Throne Room served as a conference room yet again as Hayate established a call with Genya Nakajima of the 108th Battalion. Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Knuckles, Ginga, Quint, Cinque and Nove met up in the large room. In addition, the commander also established contact with the Saint Church, particularly the head knight, Carim Gracia.

Carim, who's in addition to being the Head Knight of the Saint Church, was also a mentor of sorts to Hayate. The woman had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Her hair was only kept by a purple hair-tie and bow just underneath it, while most of her hair flowed down her back. Her outfit consisted of a black long sleeve-dress and long skirt combination. The skirt extended down to almost her ankles. She wore a white collar as part of the outfit which also had a thin, purple bow-tie. Lastly she wore dark shoes and socks, although, one wouldn't be able to see much past her face with what the feed camera could get.

The head knight had amongst her beautiful face, a sense of seriousness in her expression with a small hint of a frown. "So, now the Marauders have the Chaos Emeralds, and to top it all off, Angel Island is missing." she spoke in a serious tone.

"Yeah, the Chaos Emeralds can move the island anywhere practically with Chaos Control. So it's probably safe to say that the Marauders have the island." Sonic added.

"Fortunately, I doubt they'll have the Master Emerald yet, I had a squad remain on the island in case someone were to try a direct assault on it." Genya noted.

"Well, now we know more about the Marauders today. One: They are after the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald. Two: They have a connection with Non-Administrated #97 or as you call it, "Earth". Three: They are doing everything they can to avoid any direct confrontations with the Bureau, which probably means they lack the manpower to survive it." Carim summarized.

"They also kidnapped Knuckles." Hayate noted.

"Probably so they can use him to find any emeralds they couldn't. I highly doubt they wouldn't notice Knuckles escaping so they probably allowed him to do so. Now, back to the connection to "Earth" is there any chance they could have taken Angel Island there?" Carim asked.

"No.. They'd have to move the emeralds off planet in order to do that, I can still sense their presence on this world, the only issue is that I can't lock in on any position unless I'm close." The echidna replied.

"In the mean time, Genya, can you try to get in contact with any of the squad up on the island?" Quint asked.

"We've tried, there's something blocking it. But when we do get contact, we'll call you with a location." her husband replied, "In the meantime, I would like you and Ginga to assist this squad in their investigation.

"We'll do that." Quint acknowledged.

"Thank you" Genya cut off the communication.

"Now.. our main objective is locating the Marauders.. any ideas?" Carim asked.

"Eggman.. these are his robots they are using, if anyone can provide any assistance, he'll be the first one we'll go to." Hayate replied.

"The problem is that we don't know where Eggman is." Nanoha noted.

"We'd have to scout around for any of his robots.. Odds are he'll have some scouting for Chaos Emeralds." Sonic offered.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll expect an update on this later." Carim cut her own feed, leaving only those in the Cradle to talk amongst themselves.

"We'll split up into teams to do this. Quint, Ginga and Knuckles, you'll join Shadow, Teana and Signum when they launch. I'll debrief them after this." Hayate noted.

"Right" Ginga and Quint replied at the same time.

"Sonic and Nanoha, I'm adding Vita to your team to balance you guys out." the brunette informed the hedgehog and captain.

"Right!" Nanoha replied back.

"I'll give the ones I mentioned who aren't here the briefings and then give you your formation names when you guys launch off." The commander finished, "Until then, you all have the next hour to rest up before we continue."

"Right!" All parties saluted.

"Dismissed!" Hayate ended the conference.

All the members dispersed to grab a bite to each and such before they started to prepare for their investigations.

**[Undisclosed Location: Marauders' Hideout]**

Shade addressed the members she held command over, "We may have the island in our possession now, but the problem is that their military still has forces up there protecting the island and the Master Emerald. So going in head on will be suicidal.. For the moment we'll have to hold off on our campaign until we can think of how to deal with these forces."

"Yes, Ma'am!" the scouts who were gathered acknowledged.

"Until we think of a plan, everyone rest up and tend to your wounds. It will not do good to have our members fully rested when we attack." The procurator added, "Everyone report to the medical bay, those who haven't been injured will come with me to plan out our next attack."

"Right!" the marauders dispersed.

All parties begin their planning for the seemingly inevitable battle up ahead, however, while the Marauders have their own wounded to tend to. The mages of the Special Mobile Force 6 have their own investigation to also handle and their leads to follow. For one, locating the elusive Doctor Eggman, who's last been known as in hiding.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Hayate and Carim, two cosplay nuts]**

While her squads were deployed, Hayate had a small video conference with Carim.

"So, if the enemy gets the last two emeralds, they can probably try something on the island." the head knight noted.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry, I have confidence in my teams to get their jobs done." Hayate was optimistic.

"Good.. now what's next on our agenda?" Carim asked.

The brunette held up an all too familiar notebook, "I've got designs here for the new costumes we'll introduce at the next event."

"Wonderful!" Carim clapped as she held up her own notebook, "I've got my own too, let's compare notes."

A shared location was mentioned in both sets of notes: In front of the Cathedral!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 4]**

Author's Notes: I am very sorry for the extensive delay in posting this, I had a nice vacation in California. I also fished in Catalina.. Fishing sucked frankly.. the only good day was Saturday. Next chapter will be back on schedule.. also I'm returning to class in Community College in about a week so that will probably affect how this is published. But, I'll get this done.


	5. Record 5

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record, oh boy do I have surprises in store later on, I aint telling yet.

I don't own Sonic or Nanoha, here we go.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[The Saint's Cradle]**

The following members gathered at a hallway leading to the exterior of the warship: Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Cinque, Signum, Nove, Teana, Shadow, Vita and Knuckles. Quint and Ginga, who were on loan to the force from the 108th Battalion, also joined the members in their lineup.

Hayate, the commander of the sub-division, stood at attention to gather the attention of her sub-division, the second one she's had command of.

"Okay everyone, I'm splitting you all up into two groups of six for your search of Eggman." A map pulled up as she spoke, the map had two red dots, one located in a mountainous region, the other located near the bay, "These are spots which we've detected the presence of Eggman's newer robots. These spots are where you will investigate. The two squads will be Lightning and Flame. Lighting squad will have Nanoha, Fate, Vita, Sonic Cinque and Nove, numbered 1-6 in that order. Flame team will have Signum, Quint, Shadow, Knuckles, Ginga and Teana; also numbered 1-6 in that order. Sound off to acknowledge please."

"Yes, ma'am!" Sonic, Nove, Nanoha, Cinque, Fate and Vita all saluted, some smiling a bit.

"Yes, ma'am!" Quint, Shadow, Signum, Ginga, Teana and Knuckles followed suit.

"Thank you." Hayate spoke, "If any of you find a sign that Eggman's in the area you're in, report it in, any questions?"

A unanimous shaking of the heads indicated to Hayate that her squads were ready.

"Alright, Special Mobile Section 6, launch!" The commander stretched out her hand in a "go" sign.

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 5  
The Search for Eggman

* * *

**[Mountain Region]  
[BGM: "Red Mountain" Sonic Adventure]**

Knuckles, Signum and Shadow searched through the sky for the egg-robos while Quint, Ginga and Teana took to the ground and Wing Road in their own search. Splitting up to cover more in their patrol and search for the elusive scientist.

"Nothing over here aside from the usual variety of mechs." Knuckles reported as he crushed one with his fist.

Signum diced one in half with Laevatein, "Same.. Shadow, any chance you can find something to trace them back if they are over here scouting?"

"Not unless we can find a robot that has a radio or some form of communication on it.. look for a robot that seems to be calling the shots" The ebony hedgehog ordered.

The trio on the ground scouted around the dirt pathways of the mountain, taking out any robot that got in their way.

Teana took out several with her crossfire shoot spell. The Enforcer Aide has improved during her time under Fate, and could only get better as she decimated the robots with her sniper-like aim and timing.

Ginga and Quint double-teamed on the robots with their respective Wing Roads. They made taking out mechs like Eggman's look routine, their power was pretty much as "advertised".

In the midst of her assault on the mechs, Teana caught something amiss.

"I found something. Another robot, but this one has gold trims to its shoulders" Teana reported her finding and got the attention of her teammates.

The robot in mention was navy blue like the recent ones Eggman had, and it bear the gold trims that signified it's status of authority.

"Yup.. that's the one issuing the orders.." Shadow confirmed as the robot was promptly thrashed.

Signum held a radio in her hand, "This must be what the robots used.. but it's only half..." she observed immediately "So we won't be able to back trace it until we fill the halves."

"It looks like all the robots are gone here.. let's pause and report.. as well as wait for the other team in their patrol" Shadow offered.

"Yeah.." The others agreed.

* * *

**[Bay area]  
[BGM: "Emerald Coast" Sonic Adventure OST]**

While the sun was shining and a cool breeze flew through the coast and beach, it wasn't all fun in the sun. If the mountains had robots, this place had even more of them swarming the whole vicinity.

"Looks like the mechs are really out on the prowl for the emeralds.. maybe someone should tell them that they aren't here?" Sonic observed as he road his gear

"Meh.. just let them fly around dumbly" Vita snickered in response.

"Well we know they are Eggy's because they arent too smart" the hedgehog started a snark spree with the iron knight.

"Yup.. look at them fly around" Vita added.

"Oh you two.. I'm surprised how much you get along with each other." Nanoha pointed out with a few giggles.

"Yeah.. when you two first met, Vita could barely stand you." Fate added.

Sonic shrugged, "Guess we have something in common."

"A tendency to snark." Vita finished the hedgehog's sentences, as if knowing what he'd say next and she did.

"Yeup!" the hedgehog nodded after kicking an aerial mech into the water and disabling it.

"See and you finish your sentences, it's amusing seeing you get along" Nanoha giggled once more.

Sonic, who's last major op was the assault on the Cradle of the Saints, has not slipped up on his show of speed and it's obvious here as he sliced through the robots with his trademark spin-dash. In a even more show of force, his Sonic Wind has been top notch as well.

The confident Vita, who boasted of a powerful combination of herself and her device Graf Eisen, showed that pure power in melee as she closed in and swiped at the mechs with the device in it's missile form.

Fate, who recently took a vacation with Sonic and Nanoha as part of their honeymoon, has also not been slipping up on her power and speed. She closed in on the robots and slashed them apart with Bardiche, which she opted to use Haken form for the melee combat. Over nine years ago, she once had a rivalry with Nanoha in their incident with the Jewel Seeds.

Nanoha, who's main strength was not in the melee, took care of the mechs with her Axel Shooter, one of her best spells and most preferred at the mid-range.

Nove and Cinque traveled along side the sand of the beach in their search for any leads to finding the mad scientist, while they couldn't find the doctor, they found something that, in this case, was good enough.

"We found something. This one looks like it's calling the shots!" Nove hailed the four aerial mages to them and gestured to a robot that looked about the same as the robot the Flame team encountered earlier.

"Yup.. that's the one, let's take it down." Sonic gave the go-ahead signal and his team did just that with no real trouble at all.

Fate took out from the mech another radio that looked the same as the one the Flame team secured less than a half hour ago.

"This was probably what the robot was using to issue the orders, there's probably another end to this transmission that we can trace back. We can take this to the Cradle and have them traced." the enforcer offered and the team took off for the Cradle that served as their command ship.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

Everyone gathered around a huge map view of Mid-Childa after returning from their respective assignments. The two radios the teams secured sat on a table nearby to be used for finding Eggman.

"Alright, we've got both radios, now we can trace their signal back to Eggman, hopefully we'll be able to find out where he's been hiding all this time" Hayate declared.

"We have our devices ready, now let's get this started." Fate signaled

The mages patched into the systems of the radios, after establishing the link, used the link to trace back to a set location. Their attempt worked on the first try as a large red dot appeared on the map that pin-pointed an area in the Altseim Frontier, ironically the same area where Sonic and Nanoha's group encountered the Marauder Scout.

"Found the location" Fate declared, "Right here" and pointed at the area indicated from the trace.

"Good.. Lightning team, you'll head into the area while the Flame keeps you covered from anything else over there." Hayate planned out the strategy for going after the doctor.

"Sounds like a plan. We'll get onto it." Nanoha agreed to it and the teams launched off.

* * *

**[Altseim Frontier: Eggman's base]  
[BGM: "Final Egg" Sonic Adventure OST]**

With the Flame team covering their route in, the Lightnings moved in with all haste. The doc's base was pretty well built, but to no one's surprise as they knew that Eggman could build a lot more than what he's got now in even less time.

"Hmm.. is it odd for me to think that Eggy could have done better with what he's using to protect this base?" the hedgehog asked after crushing a mech with his spin-dash with no issue.

"Not really.. You have the most experience against him so you've seen the best and worst he's had to offer." Fate shrugged in her reply.

Their trek led them to a decent sized clearing where they encountered three decent sized mechs that also were armed to the teeth with rocket launchers and machine guns.

"Well.. this is new" the hedgehog pointed out.

"Watch out!" Nanoha gave them the heads up as the robots fired homing rockets at them.

The nimbleness and quick reactions of this group allowed them to avoid being blasted from the rockets, but the machine guns created a bit of a problem for any of them who wanted to get in on them in close combat.

With some quick thinking and her exploding daggers, Cinque made quick work of the arms that held the guns. With the way she pulled it off, it might as well be routine for her.

With Bardiche shifted into the wide claymore-type Zanber form, Fate charged in and absolutely crushed the first robot by slicing it into two in a vertical cut. Even given the size of her blade, the girl's speed, which was arguably her best feature in addition to the power she can get, was unaffected by the Zanber.

Sonic combined his old-school spin-dash with the new-age Sonic Wind shooting spell that he picked up four years ago in his start as a mage when he dealt with his own mech. The hedgehog scored a clean hit right through the center of the robot and followed it up with a point-blank impact of his wind blades.

Nove utilized a deadly combination of close combat Strike Arts and her Gun Knuckle IS against the mech she went after and thrashed it with no doubts to her power. Her overall opinion of the mages, especially Sonic, has improved during the period of her continuing "reformation", partly thanks to Cinque's own guidance and help.

When the trio of robots were crushed and brushed aside another trio soon followed suit and stood ready for battle.

"Here comes another wave!" Nanoha pointed out and her team took stances, however the robots suddenly halted and stood straight at attention.

"Stop!" Eggman's voice echoed throughout the base as the scientist jogged awkwardly onto the scene. He panted in exhaustion after he arrived, obviously it has been awhile since he last worked out.

The lightning team stood on guard in case the doctor was to try anything, they all couldn't trust him as much as they could throw him, and for good reason of the suspicion.

"What's going on here, Eggman?" Sonic barked immediately

"Oh, there's no need for violence my blue furred friend." The doc attempted to assure the hedgehog there was no cause for suspicion, but Sonic and the others knew better.

"You do know we don't trust you, right?" Fate asked, half-serious and half in a general deadpan of her tone.

"Oh, I wouldn't trust myself either." Eggman smirked, "For I, the great and illustrious Eggman-sama, has officially reformed!"

* * *

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Cosplay on the Cradle]**

Hayate's hobbies were no secret to the other members of the squad in which she held command of, so it came to no one's surprise that she announced that she was going to hold a small cosplay practice-event on the Cradle before the real event at the Saint Church which was to come shortly later. Who she called up to be the "models" during this cosplay was a bit of a surprise.

Sonic, Vita, Fate and Nanoha all stood in the brunette's office while she picked out outfits for them all to wear, and somehow managed to convince them to wear the outfits in front of Vivio, Cinque, Nove and Signum.

Sonic and Vita both had something to grumble about because they had to wear matching cat-ear maid outfits.

"This is embarrassing.." Sonic sighed and blushed quite a bit because he had to dress like such in front of his own adopted daughter.

"You're telling me... and I have a sudden urge to say "How may I serve you, nyo?" Vita added as she stood next to her blue comrade.

Fate and Nanoha were chosen to wear nurse outfits, albeit to Hayate's altering of how they appeared. Fate had to wear black mesh and lace along with her white nurse outfit. Nanoha's theme was the opposite color, white, to match her outfit. The both of them both seemed to match somehow.

"Well.. it's better us than Vivio." Fate sighed though she still felt the same embarrassment as her blue hedgehog of a husband.

"Yeah..." Nanoha mirrored her wife's expression, though one thing managed to keep all four of them in a bit of a good mood, and that was Vivio's smile.

"Sonic-papa, Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, Vita-onee-chan, you all look great!" the young, innocent, hetero-chromatic girl smiled to assure her point.

When in doubt, Vivio's smile makes it all better.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 5]**

Author's Notes: D'awww.. Vivio.. how cute can she get.. No matter how bad of a day her parents can have, either rough work, or just plain drama, a Vivio smile will make them happy.


	6. Record 6

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus arc of Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record. Could Eggman be really reformed? I don't own Sonic or Nanoha.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

Shortly after securing Eggman, the teams met back up in the Cradle, with the throne room serving as their command center once more. Eggman was held in a bind of his wrists out of suspicion in case he was to try anything.

The throne room had a display of the map of Mid-Childa pulled up on it once more Hayate had a communication feed with Genya Nakajima up as well.

"I'm telling you people, really! I'm reformed!" Eggman tried to convince the squad.

"I doubt that Eggman, you tried fooling the Bureau with that lie before, but you're not going to fool them again." Hayate shot that down.

"Regardless, I don't know where the Chaos Emeralds are.. if I did, why would I be sending my own robots out to find them?" the doctor asked.

"Explain the ones we saw the Marauders with" Sonic snapped.

"They were older ones I brought over on one of my round trips during my period of hiding.. I was planning on using them for scrap and new robots.. those thieves stole them from me and reprogrammed them!" Eggman gritted his teeth.

"In any case.. we still need to find the Marauders, as well as Angel Island." Hayate pointed out.

Genya, from his feed, provided an option for that, "I think I can help you there.. We just received a signal from the team on the island. They still have it under guard. We also tracked it to this location."

On the map appeared another point in the middle of a mountain range of snow-caps. The coordinates came to some surprise to Eggman.

"That's one of my bases I used when I was hiding from you people." The doctor observed.

"Then let's head over there. Vivio, get a course for that location." Hayate ordered.

"Not so fast.." Eggman interrupted, "You don't really think a warship like this can make it to my hideout, do you?"

"Why?" Fate asked.

"The base is completely in the middle of the mountains, you'll be cut off from it if you try to go in from the air." the doctor informed.

"He's right." Genya replied, "Angel Island can barely fit over it's location from what I heard in the reports."

"We'll have to go in on the ground then.." Nanoha summarized.

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 6  
A Wolf in the Shadows, pursuit of the Marauders

* * *

**[Mountainous region: TSAB Safe house]  
[BGM: "Ice Cap" Sonic Adventure]**

To avoid sending everyone in her unit out to infiltrate the base, Hayate dispatched the Lighting team, consisting of Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Vita, Nove and Cinque, out to the mountains in search of the Marauders. They landed at a TSAB outpost in the middle of the region. The weather was a slightly chilling one with the skies cloudy, but no snow falling.

A couple of uniformed mages met the deployed team at the outpost. One woman in particular, who wore the garments and badge signifying a commanding officer, approached the deployed team.

"Welcome, I understand you are of the Special Mobile Force 6 we were told were coming out here? Which one of you is in command of this group?" The girl asked.

Nanoha stepped forward, "That would be me, thank you for having us."

"It's no trouble at all.. If you'll all come this way, we've tracked the location of this "base" that the 108th battalion tracked down." the girl guided the team inside.

The outpost interior housed a huge map of the mountain region, a red dot was displayed that showed the exact location of the base. It was in the middle of the mountains with the most obvious entrance located at the end of a pass. The map also detected mechanical signals indicating robots that seemed to be on a patrol.

"The main entrance is here.. but I advise caution..the robots caused a bit of trouble for some of our patrols." the woman explained.

"We'll be careful." Nanoha noted and the team walked out of the outpost.

"Good luck" the woman spoke as she watched the group leave.

* * *

**[Mountain Pass]**

The wind was calm, the air was a bit chilly, but it didn't bother anyone as they were all used to it. The only real issue the team of six encountered were the robots. While old and outdated, the mechs still tried, to little success, to block the team from advancing on the stronghold the Marauders held.

Vita felt a bit of annoyance over the failed attempts of the mechs in taking her down, "These things are like a chore.."

"Yup.. you gotta do them.. and you probably don't like to do them.." Sonic added.

"Well.. the chores can't do themselves you know.." Nanoha noted positively.

"Yeah, so I can't complain there.." the hedgehog had to backpedal a little bit.

"Good... I'll be sure to remember that the next time I cook, Sonic-kun." Nanoha giggled a bit

"_Nice save"_ Fate sent to Sonic mentally.

"_Yeah.. lucked out there.." _Sonic sent back.

"_I can hear you both.. "_ Nanoha's voice echoed in their minds as she giggled again, _"Don't expect me to go easy tonight.."_

The mischievous tone carried in Nanoha's "promise" certainly gave Sonic and Fate a bit of a shock. Not only was she listening and heard, but they both know how brutal Nanoha can be in more ways than one.

Fearful thoughts aside, the team made their advance through the pass. The robots were the usual variety of rusted out E-series shooters, heavily armored but slow moving mechs and bomb launchers.

Some of the E-series they encountered were in the air, but were easy pickings for Nanoha's and Nove's shooting. The duo made a powerful combination together in regards to their shooting.

"You're doing well, Nove." Nanoha complimented.

"Thanks.." The cyborg replied.

While the ground based mechs were a mere annoyance, they were nothing but scrap metal in a few seconds to the power of Sonic and Fate's close range attacks. The hedgehog's spin-dash, combined with his other wife's Zanber form Bardiche made for a destructive balance that crushed any mech they encountered.

"Nicely done, Fate!" the blue hedgehog gave a small nod.

"You too." Fate echoed the thought.

The other makeshift combination of this highly versatile team contained the Iron Knight Vita and Cinque. The two double-teamed to take down a variety of their own robots. The cyborg's daggers combined with the knight's Schwablifliegen (flying swallow) mixed for a devastating combination when they were sent at the mechs. A combination that made scrap work of the robots.

"You're not too bad.." Vita said what would be a compliment to her.

"I'll take that as a compliment, odds are I won't be getting any more." Cinque noted.

"Wise choice.. now less talking more moving." the iron knight noted and the duo followed their teammates through the pass.

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

Hayate, Vivio and Knuckles met up in the throne room. The echidna held Doctor Eggman in a binding hold. The brunette and echidna monitored the lighting team's progress through the mountains.

"Eggman, why did you put your base in the middle of the mountains?" Hayate asked.

"Part to keep myself concealed why I plan out my invasions.. The mountain cover gave me some support in case any of the Bureau tried to attack me from the air." The doctor replied.

"I hope Sonic-papa, Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama will be alright.." Vivio sounded a bit worried as she kept the Cradle at an idle.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." the brunette assured the child.

Knuckles has been a bit silent over the past few minutes, deep in thought over something as he watched the progress on the screen. His silence had the attention of Vivio.

"Knuckles, are you okay?" the young girl asked.

"I'm fine..." the echidna replied.

"Thinking about something?" Hayate asked.

"Yeah.. the Marauders.. something seemed familiar about them.. I can't explain it though.." the echidna narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Familiar?" Vivio asked

"I can't put my finger on it.. but.. maybe the way they look or something, they just seem familiar." Knuckles seemed a bit confused in his thoughts.

"It's probably nothing to worry about." Hayate shrugged.

"Yeah.. you're probably right.." the echidna agreed.

* * *

**[Mountain Pass]  
[BGM: "Ice Cap" Sonic Adventure]**

The Lighting team came to a stop when the path led between two hills and a female voice echoed throughout the area.

"You'll go no further!" the voice spoke as Procurator Shade, flanked by two other Marauders.

Nanoha held out her hand to signal a halt for her team, and the mages did just that and prepared themselves for the seemingly inevitable battle.

"Apologies.. but we cannot let you pass any further and interfere." Shade informed.

"Why are you stealing the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked.

"We're not stealing them... only returning them to their true masters.." on the Procurator's signal, the marauders, including herself, slid the face-plates off their masks to reveal their heads above their necks, which revealed themselves to be echidnas. Shade's fur was light orange while her male echidna partners were red-furred.

"What the?! Echidnas?!" Vita just stared in surprise.

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]**  
[**No BGM]**

Knuckles was stunned himself about the appearances of who the Marauders really were. Echidnas, like himself, which would explain why they were familiar to him.

"Impossible! I thought all the echidnas were wiped out from Perfect Chaos's wrath!" the echidna was just about ready to rush down there, but Signum and Shadow flanked him from both sides and held him in place by the arms.

"What are you doing?" the swordswoman asked.

"I need to go down there!" Knuckles struggled with all he could to break free from the hold.

"No you don't.. calm yourself.. the others have this handled... just leave it be.." the ebony hedgehog attempted to persuade the echidna from making any mistakes.

"Just stay calm and watch what's happening down there." Signum offered.

"Fine.." Knuckles grumbled, but nonetheless he settled down for the moment and watched as the scene unfolded.

* * *

**[Mountain Pass]**

"You're echidnas.. like Knuckles..." Sonic observed.

"I thought his clan was wiped out by Perfect Chaos's wrath." Nanoha thought out loud.

"Pachahamac's tribe paid for their crimes, but we of the Nocturnus clan survived." Shade replied coldly.

"Nocturnus?" Fate questioned.

"We were the rival tribe to Pachahamac's.. during the ancient times we fought for superiority." the female echidna explained a little bit.

"Step aside now... all of us are members of the Time-Space Administration Bureau.. I'm Enforcer Fate Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi" Fate introduced herself informally and officially.

"Takamachi Nanoha. Captain of Special Mobile Section 6's Lightning Team" Nanoha introduced herself afterwards.

"Vice Captain Sonic Takamachi" the blue hedgehog added.

"Vice Captain Vita" Vita added

"Recruit Cinque Nakajima." Cinque introduced herself, seeing the others were doing so.

"Recruit Nove Nakajima" Nove went last with the formal introductions.

"Well, at least now we know who we are dealing with, nevertheless this is the end of the line." On Shade's signal, the scouts to her left and right prepared themselves in a stance with their blades. Shade also readied herself for the battle.

"Two per marauder.. be careful about their leech blades and take them down." Nanoha ordered.

**[BGM: "Last Hunters" FFXIII-2 OST]**

6 mages on 3 marauders divided themselves up to two mages per enemy. Fate and Nove took on the scout on the left flank, Vita and Cinque took on the scout on the right flank, while Nanoha and Sonic took on Shade directly.

Fate had Baridche once again in Zanber form to provide a bit more power to her melee attacks, seeing as in the current situation and teaming up with Nove, the extra power would be a good boost. The duo double-teamed on the marauder and continually kept their combat within close quarters. While the scout was one of the most talented to be selected by Shade in his mission, his skills in defending were strained to the max due to the incredible power his foes held. The leech blade, despite it's energy-sapping ability, wasn't able to be used. Fate cut him down with her sword while Nove shut him down with even further with her fighting and Gun Knuckle shooting.. Fate continually sliced down and diagonally against the scout while Nove just about literally beat him senseless with her Strike Arts. Fate finished the job with a broad-face slam against the wall. Down went the scout as he was forced to warp out.

Vita and Cinque took a different approach to their scout. The iron knight, with her Eisen in Raketenform, continually swung and crushed the armor of the echidna, but only sliced once per approach as she backed off for Cinque to throw her daggers at the precise spot where the armor was pierced. Not only did the actual stab of the blade hurt, the explosion of the impact added to the pain. The combination, mixed with Vita's own iron ball shooting spell, gave the scout a world of hurt. He like his other comrade went down rather quickly.

Shade on the other hand had much more of a success in keeping her foes at bay. While she wasn't able to really shut down Sonic or Nanoha, she held her own against the hedgehog's spin-dash and the mage's Axel Shooter. In addition, her close-combat experience and training kept her blocking each punch and kick Sonic threw while the two were close and trading blows.

"Not bad.." Shade noted, "Both of you are skilled."

"Oh.. We're just getting started, Shade..." Sonic smirked a bit and traded a look with Nanoha and before Shade knew it, the duo placed her under binding spells. Nanoha's Restrict Lock and Sonic's Ring Bind.

"Grr.. Can't move.." Shade glared a bit in minor frustration, only to blink in surprise and shock as both her hedgehog and human foes held medium sized spheres of magic in light-blue and pink respectively in front of them.

"Divine..." Sonic and Nanoha announced simultaneously as their spell reached it's full charge

Shade had nowhere to go, not even her warp could be used as she was unable to activate it, the echidna was forced to watch in complete surprise at being caught with her guard lowered.

"Buster!" The duo unleashed the spell at the same time, beams of light-blue and pink combined to form a larger beam blast that engulfed Shade and metaphorically nailed her to the rocky wall in a harsh impact.

"_Thanks for teaching me this spell, Nanoha, I owe ya!"_ Sonic sent mentally to his wife.

"_Well, we had to have at least one spell we can use together. And we have it in the Buster"_ Nanoha replied back.

The combined double Divine Buster fired from Nanoha and Sonic drew complete shock from Vita and Fate. Neither of them expected Nanoha to teach one of her favorite spells to Sonic, let alone the hedgehog being able to learn the spell.

Whatever victory they could have shared was short-lived as Shade freed herself from the wall. She appeared shaken up quite a bit from the impact and beating, but she was still able to stand.

"Like.. I said.. you're at the end of the line.." the echidna pressed a button on her wrist and warped out. The second she warped out however, the valley started to shake and rattle as bomb blasts hit the valley and caused boulders to come crashing down.

"Quick! Withdraw!" Nanoha and her team pulled back just in the nick of time; a few seconds later they would have been stuck.

"Drat.. they ambushed us to stall for time to block off the path.." Sonic snapped his fingers.

"This isn't good.." Fate thought out loud, "With the path blocked, we can't get through to the island.."

Eggman's voice rang out through the communications, "Oh ho! Did you really think that was the only way in? Well you're wrong.. there is another way.. a secret way that I only have access to"

"Should we trust him?" Fate asked to the team.

"We don't have much of a choice..." Nanoha sighed and rang up Hayate, "Hayate-chan.. we'll need Eggman.."

"I'll send him down there with reinforcements.. just hang tight in the meantime." the brunette cut off the feed from there.

In a matter of seconds, the situation changed.. With the setback, will the team still be able to rescue Angel Island from the Marauders in time?

* * *

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Practice for the cosplay event, part 2!]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Fate and Vita were chosen for yet another cosplay practice event, Hayate really wanted to make sure everything with the costumes were in order, well that was what she told them.. and she wasn't easy to believe, the camera and notepad she had with her didn't help matters much there either. Again, to the embarrassment of Sonic, Nanoha and Fate, Vivio was also present with Hayate for the practice event.

The theme for the costumes this time was Maid Cafe. Which meant that all four of the "models" had to dress up in maid outfits. Hayate specifically picked out each outfit that she felt fit her "model" in color theme.

The first to come out of the changing area was Sonic. The blue hedgehog held a rather obvious blush of embarrassment as he walked out in a light-blue maid dress.

Vita was the next to come out, her maid dress held a dark red in color as she stood next to Sonic, the size difference between the two was plainly obvious as Sonic was barely up to the iron knight's neck.

The last two to come out did so at the same time, Nanoha and Fate, wearing pink and yellow maid outfits respectively, stood next to Sonic and Vita and like the other two just stood there in embarrassment.

"What's your line?" Hayate asked with a bit of a smirk

"How may we serve you?" on cue all four asked that question with embarrassing poses.

Vivio seemed to enjoy it, clapping with youthful glee, but thankfully she was too innocent to even see what Hayate was really thinking about putting the group in the outfits.

"Can Vivio do it next time?" the girl asked.

"No!" Sonic, Nanoha and Fate shot that question down quickly.

Unknown to them, Hayate was thinking of just that.. only problem was how to get away.

To be continued.

* * *

**[Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 6]**

Author's Notes: Oy vey.. scheduling's really making this hard to keep up, but I promise, I shall continue.,. There may or may not be an update next weekend, I heard my family's going camping with some friends and I'm tagging along.


	7. Record 7

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus saga of Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record.. Some twists will be added here to mix for some interesting scenes. One of my classes in college I'm taking this semester is one on writing, so this story will definitely be a way to test what I learned. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha, here we go!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa]  
[Snowy Mountain Outpost]  
[BGM: "Ice Cap" Sonic Adventure]**

After the valley collapse blocked the main route to the stronghold of the Marauders. The Lightning team of the Special Mobile Force 6 had to withdraw back to the TSAB outpost they originally landed at and wait for the reinforcements to arrive with Eggman, who spoke of another entrance to his base.

Within a matter of minutes, Knuckles and the Flame team consisting of Signum, Shadow, Teana, Quint and Ginga, arrived at the base with the captive doctor in tow. While most of the reception of the reinforcements was formal. There was still a bit of mistrust of Eggman. In addition, Knuckles had not said one word since arriving.

Signum, Nanoha, Sonic, Fate, Teana and Eggman met up in the map room of the outpost to discuss the plans for taking the alternate route.

"Okay, Eggman, where's this other entrance you mentioned?" Sonic asked.

"I took precautions when I built my base here in the mountains. In the event that I would lose access to my original base, I built a small, back-up base and a secret passageway to lead back to my main base. The back-up base is accessible from here in the mountains." Eggman explained and pinpointed the locations of the bases and passages on the map.

"How do we get in there?" Fate asked

"There's an entrance to the passage here.." Eggman pointed to a small dot, "the entrance is a gate that is password protected, only I can open it."

"Is there anything we should worry about when we get to the entrance?" Signum asked.

"None.. I had it built in case I was in a pinch and low on robots.." the doctor replied, "The real issue comes after we make it through.. assuming the marauders don't know that I have another base on standby"

"If we are hearing about this base now, it's likely the marauders don't know about it." Teana offered.

"Well.. we'll have to see about that when we get to the base." Nanoha noted, "For the moment, let's head on out there with all that we have and get into that backup base."

"You're right." Sonic noted, "We have to stop the Marauders from taking the Master Emerald."

"Yes.. let's go save the world.. ugh I can't believe I'm saying that." the doctor gagged on the words, much to the amusement of the others present.

With that the teams set out for the backup base. With Eggman's guidance, they made it safely to the entrance. Which was pretty much a small metallic gate with a computer next to it.

"Doesn't look like much" Sonic noted.

"That's the point.. I designed it as such so that way it won't attract attention.. now let's see.. aha! Here's the combination" The doctor pressed a few buttons on the computer screen and opened the door with his combination.

"There.. now let's get inside.. we don't have much time." Eggman guided the teams into the backup base.

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 7  
Battle for Angel Island

* * *

**[Neo Scrap Brain: Eggman's Back-up Hideout]  
[BGM: "Final Egg (1st area) Sonic Adventure]**

The teams quickly set up shop at the temporary base they would use for their campaign on Angel Island. Conference feeds were set up to not only the Saint Church with Carim and Admiral Chrono, the Cradle of the Saints with Hayate, but also a campsite the mages of the 108th Battalion had set up to hold off the Nocturnus at the island.

"First, before we go over our plans, we need to figure out how much we know about who we're going to be up against here." Hayate spoke from her position in the Throne Room of the Cradle.

"Their leader, Shade, said they were known as the Nocturnus Clan of echidnas. Knuckles, what do you know about them?" Carim, the head knight of the church, asked.

"Most of you may have already heard of some of this from Sonic." The echidna started, with the nods of Carim, Hayate, Nanoha, Fate, Chrono and Quint, though no one else nodded, "But Angel Island used to be from our world."

"That would be Non-Administrated Planet #97 or "Earth" as the locals call it." Carim explained to those who didn't know, such as the Combat Cyborgs and the forces on the island.

"Yeah, Earth. Angel Island originally was part of the Mystic Ruins and Temple settlement of my clan. Led by Pachahamac, my tribe often fought with other clans of my kind. The Nocturnus were our fiercest rivals. They would fight over control of the lands. At some point, my clan's leader took a force to the Altar of the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds, he wanted to use the emeralds to have an edge over the Nocturnus, he wanted it enough to take it by force. That, and hurting the Chao and it's guardian, Tikal, his own daughter, enraged Chaos enough to incur his wrath. I always thought that when Chaos wiped out my tribe in it's wrath, that the Nocturnus also were wiped out from it, but I was wrong." The echidna sighed after his lengthy explanation.

A brief pause was taken to allow the explanation to sink in. Many of the mages there haven't heard the full background of what they were actually protecting and just how important it was until then.

Nanoha, Fate and Hayate had a shared memory of witnessing Perfect Chaos' wrath, while they weren't there. They saw from a television report.

_-Flashback-_

_Over four years and many months ago, the trio of aces enjoyed some time off on their home world. It was a Saturday morning and during breakfast, Hayate had "convinced" her friends to go to one of the local channels that was hosting a block of anime shows._

_The anime block was cut off suddenly with a breaking news report from the local news station that was hosting the shows._

_A rather attractive brown-haired woman, dressed in formal attire, stood in front of the camera on the scene of Station Square._

"_We interrupt your broadcasts to bring you this emergency news bulletin. Floods have just broke out in Station Square. We're not sure what caused them, but.. What in the world?!" the reporter had to stop herself. The camera zoomed in close to a building just as it was demolished and a gathering of water formed to take it's place. Thicker and thicker it went as a reptilian head formed from the water. At the same time, arm-like tentacles formed from the water of the flood of the city. The monster's eyes opened to reveal their green irises and the beast roared like a dinosaur._

_The girls gasped at the sudden appearance of the monster on the news reports._

"_What.. is that thing?" Nanoha asked._

"_I don't know.. but I can feel it's power from here.." Hayate solemnly replied._

_From their feed of the television, Nanoha, Fate and Hayate could only watch as the beast thrashed the city buildings, causing havoc and chaos amongst the civilians, who were forced to take refuge on the ruined, yet standing rooftops._

"_We've got to go down there and help out the civilians" Fate noted._

_Before they could do just that however. The reporter pointed out something on a nearby rooftop._

"_What's that?" the woman asked through her microphone._

_Just then, a golden flash of light emitted from a point on the rooftop. From the flash, a small, yellow figure floated in place and stared down the out of control beast. From the feed of the TV, the only traits noticeable about the figure were it's yellow body, it's small size and crimson red eyes._

_The girls watched from the TV as the figure circled around the beast and outright overpower it._

"_I can't believe it.. whoever that is. He, or she is saving us from that thing.." the reporter noted._

_In no time the beast was neutralized and there was light along the horizon, but just as quick as the figure appeared, it disappeared. Well before any of the news reporters on scene to track it down._

_Hayate, Nanoha and Fate took a few notes on the appearance of the mysterious savior of Station Square from what they could gather of the reports, but they weren't able to identify who he or she was, so they left it alone until a time came for it to be more relevant_

_-Flashback End-_

Later on the trio figured out that the "figure" turned out to be Sonic in his super form. They found out that when he transformed in his first mock battle against a mage, with his opponent being Quint.

Besides the point, all the details were provided from the experience the members of the sub-division had from the past few days fighting the Nocturnus.

"We've confirmed that they have control over some of the old mechs Eggman brought over here from his base on Earth. And they've got some technology of their own. Synthetic warping abilities and cutting edge weapons tech." Hayate informed.

"How are we going to combat them?" The head-mage on the island asked.

"If they unleash a full frontal attack, expect to be probably outnumbered. We have two teams on the ground at the base that the Nocturnus took over, they will be split up. One team will go to Angel Island to hold down the defenses until the other team finds a way to deal with the Nocturnus." Hayate noted.

"I need to be on the team that heads for Angel Island." Knuckles spoke in a serious tone, one that would not accept anything else.

"Knuckles..." Hayate started.

"Hayate... when Knuckles makes up his mind, he can be stubborn, so don't bother arguing this with him." Sonic cut the brunette off.

"Okay.. I'll switch up the teams then.. Nove, you'll go to the Flame team in Knuckles's spot." the brunette agreed.

"The Lightning team will head for Angel Island while the Flame team diverts the attention away from them. Then when the Lightnings make it to the island, they'll help the defenses while the flames try to find a way to stop the Nocturnus." Hayate explained the plan.

"I know this base better than anyone, so if you'll let me. I think I can scramble a few parts together to make a weapon powerful enough to deal with them." Eggman offered his services.

"We can't trust him.." Sonic pointed out.

"Agreed there..He'll be accompanied by the Flame team, but he'll remain here until the Lightning team gets on the island." the commander replied back.

"Gotcha, so we'll be heading for the island with Knuckles.." Sonic noted.

"Good luck, now go!" Hayate ended the feeds.

* * *

**[Neo Scrap Brain]  
[BGM: "Sky Deck" Sonic Adventure]**

A city-like establishment served as the "base" that was taken over by the Nocturnus. In the center and floating was Angel Island. The Nocturnus unleashed a full frontal assault on the island with robots accompanied by their best scouts they had.

The Flame team created a diversion with the loudest explosive spells they could use. The noises diverted the attention of the marauders, who took some robots of their own to investigate. When the scouts arrived at the scene of the noises, they were quickly ambushed and taken down before they could report in the disturbance.

With Nanoha and Fate holding him by the arms, Sonic took to the group heading for Angel Island, Knuckles, acted as a support flight for Cinque while Vita flew herself. In record time, they arrived on the island, ready to help out the defenses.

Meanwhile, Signum and the flame team escorted the untrustworthy Eggman through his base, taking out any and all robots that got in their way. In the midst of all the scrap parts that were the remains of the outdated robots, the doctor found something that gave him a smirk.

"Yes.. this will do nicely." Eggman held that smirk.

"What did you find?" Nove asked, a bit annoyed already by the doctor's voice and antics.

"Oh just some materials for an aerial remote-controlled cannon. The cannon will be able to handle any Nocturnus." the doctor had the smirk practically painted on his face to show his enjoyment.

"Just tell us what parts you need.. we'll cover you as you get them." Signum requested.

"Oh, alright, I'll do that." Eggman acknowledged.

With Eggman in tow, the team made their way to a small factory that Eggman built within the base. Along the way, they took out robots that attempted to bar their path.

"I'll get to work on the cannon." Eggman noted as he started his work.

"We'll cover him.." Signum took guard with the others of her team

* * *

**[Angel Island]  
[BGM: "Angel Island" Sonic 3]**

The Lightning team touched down on the ground of the island. Already they were greeted with the sight of mechs and echidnas attacking the mages on the island. The mages held their ground quite well and gave some trouble to the enemy. Regardless it did help that Nanoha's team came in to help them out.

"Focus everyone, keep the defenses up, no one gets past us." Nanoha quickly took command.

"Right!" the mages under command fought hard to hold the fort.

Sonic, Fate and Vita had a field day as they combined for a powerful combination against the marauders they faced.

It didn't take long for the ringleader of the Nocturnus squad, Procurator Shade, to appear on the island, accompanied by an odd individual, who's presence halted all enemy movement on the side of the Nocturnus. One by one, all the echidnas of the clan knelt down directly in front of this individual.

"Lord Ix... the interlopers are here.." Shade equally bowed in respect

"So.. I assume you're the top of the brass here? Didn't your mother ever tell you not to steal things that don't belong to you?" Sonic asked in a rather sarcastic tone.

The figure, identified as Ix, stood rather short and dressed in odd, purple robes. His eyes glowed white and his"hair" flowed freely down his back. In addition, the echidna held an elderly appearance to his face with a long gray beard. The respected, but aging echidna held in his right hand a golden scepter that had a ¾ circle at the end of it.

"Fools! Insignificant vermin who beg for annihilation" Ix had a certain, creepy slimy tone to his old voice.

"Leave Shade to me and me alone, guys.." Knuckles pounded his fists and tilted his hat, ready for a fight that seemed inevitable.

"So you feel confident about challenging my strongest warrior? Knuckles, was it? The "Last of your kind"? How shameful it must be to have been misled all these years." Ix folded his arms in an arrogant fashion.

"Blah blah blah.." Sonic mocked the old echidna with his arms.

"Quit your babbling and bring it on, old fool!" Vita spat in annoyance.

"Frankly, my hotheaded worms, none of you are ready to face her." an evil smirk was formed on the old echidna's face as he gave his order, "Come, my minion,s brush away these motes of dust and secure my victory!"

On his command, the mages were surrounded by a seemingly countless amount of soldiers of the Nocturnus clan. The mages, even with the reinforcements, were outnumbered.

"There's too many.. power hungry wizards.. it was nice teaming up with ya Sonic." Knuckles told his blue comrade.

"We're outnumbered, but not outgunned or out of luck.. So don't get misty on me yet, Knux because this aint over yet!" Sonic replied back as he and the others fought as hard as they could.

Even though they had the advantage of the numbers, the Nocturnus still found themselves undermined with the sheer power their magic-wielding opponents had. Still there was a brilliant battle on both sides and neither of them seemed anywhere close to bowing out. The battle could have gone for days if not for the sudden appearance of new allies.

The Flame team, with Eggman in tow, appeared with a dimension transfer. The doctor pressed a button on a remote control that he held in his hand and a floating cannon appeared and unleashed a powerful laser-like blast that thinned out the Nocturnus forces down to only a few left. The laser didn't kill them, just injure them enough for their pinch-warp to activate.

"Sorry for the delay." Signum spoke.

"No worries, you're just in time." Fate assured the others who just arrived.

"More whelps to fall?" Ix asked.

"Start shaking, you have our full attention now." Sonic folded his arms.

"Sonic, Vita, Knuckles, Nove.. Take him down." Nanoha gave the order.

"Got it!" the mentioned four took a few steps forward and at the same time Ix stood forward to engage them.

**[BGM: "Last Hunters" FFXIII-2 OST]**

Ix willed his scepter to glow a greenish-blue and charged for Vita. The Iron Knight met the weapon with her mallet-form Graf Eisen. The duo clashed, but the advantage was in Vita's favor due to her impressive strength that dwarfed her elder foe. With her power, she swatted away the echidna and made the duty look easy.

The echidna rushed for Knuckles, who was ready with his fist-claws and guarded the scepter with them. Before Ix could activate the leech effect his attack held, Knuckles was quick to shove Ix away with little to no issue.

Sonic spun into his spin-dash while Nove primed her roller-bladed foot ready. The cyborg utilized her impressive strength and gave the spin-ball a powerful kick aimed right for the echidna. Ix was crushed by the pure power the combined attack held and was sent into a harsh impact with a stone pillar of the altar.

"Enough of this !" The aging echidna called it quits after that hit. Still, despite that, he held a certain arrogance about him as he spoke, "You fought well, but you cannot stop me from conquering this world! I have been imprisoned in the Twilight Cage for too long! Soon I will break free and shake the foundation of this universe!" His statements were outrageous, even Shade was taken aback.

"Imperator Ix.. we never discussed conquering it. We only wanted to return to it! I won't..." Shade voiced her own disapproval for the plan.

"Silence!" Ix shouted in anger and slammed the butt of his scepter to the ground and unleashed a powerful shockwave with a bright flash of light. The shockwave sent Sonic and Shade back, both of them went the opposite way from the impact and almost fell from the island.

"Shade!/Sonic!" Knuckles and Nove cried out and quickly pursued both of the two.

"Knuckles!/Nove!" Vita and Nove shouted after both individuals.

Well before either Sonic or Shade would be carried from the shock-wave's path, Nove gripped the hedgehog by the wrist. Knuckles had a heroic moment of his own as he saved Shade in almost exactly the same way.

Ix used the flash as a diversion to make a break for the Master Emerald and secured it in his possession.

The aging echidna was again overly arrogant as he made a declaration, "I have what I came for, little worms. Now that I have the Master Emerald, no one can stop me! Look well upon your world, soon it will be all mine!"

"No!" Fate rushed for the evil imperator, only to stop when Ix warped out of the area.

"Damn..." the enforcer snapped her fingers in frustration.

The others only stood and took some time to recover from the battles, Sonic and Shade managed to regain their footing, but no one was out of the woods just yet. The ground shook violently. Angel Island, without the support of it's emerald.

"Brace yourselves!" Nanoha ordered out in all urgency.

Mages, cyborgs and animals alike all grabbed anything they could as the island sunk down over the base it resided over. A loud crashing noise echoed throughout the area.

To be continued...

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: More cosplay hilarity]**

Hayate's antics continued in the cosplay rehearsal. The brunette once again had the usual four dress up in maid outfits. But what came to a real surprise was the addition of a fifth girl in the mix.

Vivio came out, innocent as ever, in a white-themed maid outfit and still bearing the cheerful, innocent smile.

"Vivio?!" Sonic, Fate and Nanoha just stood there, jaw open in surprise.

"Hayate-oba-chan said Vivio would look cute so I tried it on." Vivio replied.

"Well.. you do look cute.." Nanoha noted in honesty.

"She does.." Hayate smiled in admiration of her work, only to retract it when she felt an ominous aura from three individuals. She didn't need to open her eyes to know that she was being glared at by Sonic, Nanoha and Fate.

The parenting trio glared at their commander and friend with a look that surely promised something painful in the near future.

**[Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 7]**

Author's Notes: Oy vey.. more work for me.. I swear, between the housework.. homework from my classes.. time spent at classes.. it's hard to mix in my stories.. yet I somehow manage...


	8. Record 8

SonicANIME2010 here bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus arc of Lyrical Record. I was quite surprised when I read the reviews after the previous release. One was asking about the possibility of integrating the Sound Stage X from StrikerS in the story. While I'd like to try to get something like that done, it will be difficult because I haven't listened to the Sound Stages, but I'm not going to rule it out. I'll give it some thought after this arc finishes. As usual, I don't own Sonic or Nanoha or any of the characters mentioned. With that note, let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Neo Scrap Brain]**

Alarms and chaos rang out as Angel Island, stripped of it's power source, fell down for the metropolitan base. All of the mages on the island had the good sense to grab on to anything they could to brace themselves for the impact that was to come. A loud crash rang out through the area and the mountains the base was situated in.

Angel Island, for the most part, was mainly intact from the harsh impact, it wasn't too high up from the base it was situated over to really get too much damage done aside from a few broken pillars. Metropolis was thrashed, buildings cracked and fell, sparks scattered all over the ruins, and a statue of Eggman was broken into pieces.

The first to wake from unconsciousness was Fate, who rubbed her head in attempt to shake off a terrible headache from the resounding impact.

"Is everyone okay?" The slightly dazed enforcer asked.

Sonic was the first to answer with a groan, mimicking his wife's own actions to relieve himself of a painful headache, "A bit.. shaken up.. other than that, I'm fine."

That response was echoed throughout all the other mages, whose worse injuries were probably a nasty headache or some soreness from the impact.

Hayate was quick to open a communication feed to Bardiche, her concern was obvious when Fate answered the call.

"What happened? I heard a big crash from your area! Is everyone alright?" the brunette asked in all concern.

"Yeah, we're all fine.. the worse is there's a few mages shaken up.. but there's bad news. The leader of the Nocturnus, Ix, has taken the Master Emerald. Without the emerald, Angel Island fell.." Fate replied.

"Is there any way to restore the island?" Hayate asked.

"Yeah, for the most part, the altar and everything else is fine.. just have to get the Master Emerald back." Fate answered back.

"Doesn't matter.. we've lost.. The Chaos Emeralds are gone and now the Master Emerald's been taken too." Knuckles seemed a bit downcast.

"Knux.. don't be giving up just yet. We can still stop him." Sonic tried to get some hope flowing, but was interrupted by Nanoha.

"Guys.. you might want to look up" Nanoha pointed up to the sky as a literal hole was open in the sky, like a wormhole, and it sucked in the clouds surrounding it like a vacuum.

"What the?!" Sonic and the others just stared in shock.

"Lord Ix's plan has begun.. there's nothing we can do to stop it." Shade sighed knowingly, her statement and tone drew many stares from the members of the unit.

"Hold that thought.. Everyone don't flinch.. I'm arranging a dimension transfer to the Cradle. That area is unstable!" Hayate motioned from her screen and gave the command to Vivio. Within a matter of seemingly a half-minute. Flashes of light came and took the mages back up to the Cradle.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 8  
Black Hole Sun

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

While the front-line members went to the medical wing of the warship to receive healing from Shamal, the members of the Flame, Lighting teams along with Eggman and former-Procurator Shade the Echidna met with Hayate and Vivio in the Throne Room to discuss what happened.

Shade, as experienced as she was, felt a bit of confusion cross her as she caught sight of the blonde female child with hetero-chromatic eyes, one red and one green who sat on the throne.

"Who.. is she? Isn't she a bit young to be here?" the female echidna asked.

"That's Vivio, don't worry about her, she's responsible for keeping us and this ship floating." Hayate noted, "Now.. Vivio, if you may?"

"Okay, Hayate-oba-chan." Vivio pressed a few buttons on the throne and a visual feed displayed the worm-hole from before.

"What the heck is this thing?" The commander asked.

"The gateway to the Twilight Cage.. Ix has taken the Master Emerald back there.. your world is lost..." Shade informed.

Fate's experience in her line of work gave her a sense of skepticism that she couldn't help but voice, "Why should we believe anything that you say?"

"Fate!" Knuckles turned his head in a glare at the enforcer.

"No, it's alright for her to ask.. I thought I was helping my people return from exile, I didn't know that Lord Ix planned to conquer the world.. I.. I was blind" Shade replied in a downcast tone, "I can't expect you to believe me. I just want a chance to get back at Lord Ix for using my people as a weapon."

"Why go after the Chaos Emeralds?" Hayate asked.

"Ix hoped to use their power to return our clan to the world we came from. That was what he told us at least. Now I know he is using my people for his own selfish needs." Shade replied

"Then the legends are true." Knuckles thought out loud.

"It would seem so, although I have never heard them" Shade noted and retracted to ask a question off-topic, "If I may ask, why does this world seem different from the one we came from originally?"

"We are on TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa". The Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds were moved here for circumstances we cannot disclose." Hayate noted.

"Right.." Shade noted.

"But, you guys were able to get here without the Master Emerald." Nanoha pointed out.

"Technology overcomes all obstacles. Our warp belts create bubbles of space around us. It's as if we never left the Twilight Cage." Shade explained, "Unfortunately it isn't perfect. The warp bubbles wear off eventually and we must return. To truly cross into this world, Ix needed to open the wormhole. And to do that, he needed the Master Emerald."

"Why did he need the other emeralds?" Nanoha asked

"Your military had set up around the base of the island. To conquer Angel Island, Ix needed to bring it to him." Shade responded, "He used the Chaos Emeralds to bring the island over the place known as Neo Scrap Brain, where we had set up our base. The plan was to assault the island on our turf, rather than attacking it and being outnumbered by your forces."

"What are these "legends" you spoke about?" Sonic asked.

"The Nocturnus Clan and my own clan, led by Pachahamac, were rivals 4000 years ago. The Nocturnus Clan disappeared after Perfect Chaos nearly destroyed my people. We always thought Perfect Chaos got to them too." Knuckles explained a bit

Shade responded to Knuckles' assumption with her own explanation, "Perfect Chaos was Pachacamac's doing. Your clan paid the price for unleashing it's anger, but my clan was spared. With our greatest rivals gone, the Nocturnus Clan nearly colonized the rest of the world. Then we were exiled to the Twilight Cage."

"Wait.. you're 4000 years old? You look awefully young for that" Nanoha pointed out.

Shade had a hint of a snicker about her but shook her head, "Nah. I'm only around 18. I was born when we lived in the Twilight Cage on Nocturne Island. I learned the stories of our ancestors, one who still lives is Lord Ix.. I'm not sure how though, but I never asked and just focused on my training."

"So.. now Ix has the Master Emerald and the Chaos Emeralds..." Hayate sighed.

"We've got to follow and stop him." Sonic noted

"How?" Shade asked.

"Vivio thinks the Cradle should be able to handle the trip." Vivio pointed out from her seat on the throne.

"And we've got all the supplies we need to make such a trip. The problem is we're not going to take everyone. Not enough room for them all." Hayate noted, "And we'll have to report to the higher ups before we go."

"Vivio will bring up a feed to them ." Vivio spoke as she did just that. In the center of the area where the others gathered, feeds were established with Carim and Chrono Harlaown in the Saint Church.

* * *

**[Saint Church]**

Carim met with Admiral Chrono Harlawon. A call came in to The head knight's line and she put it up on screen to reveal Hayate.

"What's to report?" Admiral Chrono asked.

"Angel Island fell and the Nocturnus have taken the Master Emerald. In addition, a wormhole opened to this place identified as the Twilight Cage" Hayate informed over her feed.

"This is confirmed?" Carim asked.

"Yeah.. Shade, formerly one of the forces, explained to us about it.. We're taking the Cradle and some units with is inside to get the Emerald back." Hayate declared

"I assume you'll be leaving some of your members here to hold the defenses?" Chrono asked.

"Yeah.. We'll be leaving Signum, Ginga, Quint-san as well as the forces we assisted on Angel Island. I'll also leave Eggman in your custody." The brunette confirmed.

"Very well.. Bring the Cradle over here to drop off the injured with us, we do have some of your members over here, Amy Rose, Tails and the "Genie" Shahra, I assume you'll be taking them with you as well?" Carim asked

"Yeah.. Sonic will need his genie in case he needs to Unison." Hayate confirmed again.

"Very well.. I'll see you when you get here" Carim ended the call.

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]**

Hayate watched as Carim and Chrono ended the call on their side. The severity of the situation was obvious to her especially.

"Okay.. We're all heading for the Saint Church to drop off the injured, replace and leave some members behind to watch over the cities. Once we leave for the Twilight Cage, there's no turning back unless we're successful." Hayate spoke out loud, "We'll have some time to stock up on supplies and unload the injured.. so make sure you get anything done you need to."

"Right!" Those gathered dismissed themselves for the most part. Leaving only Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Shade, Hayate and Vivio.

"I can only hope you people are right and you can stop Lord Ix.. and I hope to atone for my crimes..." Shade sighed.

"You'll get your chance at that soon enough.." Hayate responded.

With the Master Emerald stolen by Imperator Ix and the Nocturnus, can the Time-Space Administration bring it back? Can Shade be truly trusted?

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Cosplay Rehearsal Aftermath]**

"Haaah! What a day at work!" Hayate stretched out her arms in relief over the hard work she put into for the cosplay rehearsal she ran with her unit. The brunette slouched back in a reclining position in her chair at her office on board the Cradle.

Her relaxation was interrupted, however, by a series of knocks on her closed office door. In no time the door slid open and an ominous aura filled the office.

"What the..." Hayate blinked in surprise, only to pale once she saw who was on the other side of that door.

Nanoha, Sonic and Fate were there, the dark and ominous aura seeming to come off of them and they did NOT look happy to see their brunette friend and commander.

"Sonic-kun, Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, uh.. how are you?" Hayate smiled a bit in an attempt to appear innocent.

"Hayate-chan... you used Vivio for cosplay.." Nanoha started.

"We warned you about this..." Sonic added next

"Now you will pay..." Fate finished as the trio locked the door behind them.

"N-now.. Maybe we can talk about this? Sorry?" Hayate tried desperately to talk her way out of any punishment from using the trio's daughter as an additional model but no sale.

All throughout the Cradle, some would have thought they heard high-pitched squeals, though it was too far away to be recognizable and was promptly left alone.

Meanwhile, back in Hayate's office. After the parental trio left, the place was a mess and Hayate was cringing on the floor, looking like she was hit by a tornado or something. She was a mess.

Never mess with Vivio, the two mother bears and one father bear of her will make you pay.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 8]**

Author's Notes: And another one down.. short again, but more action can make up for it and it shall in the next chapter.


	9. Record 9

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus arc of the Lyrical Record story. Well... despite all my busyness, I'm still pulling through and keeping on with the stories. Delays or not, as they always say, show must go on. Let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[The Saint Church]  
[Time: 1:00 pm]**

The Cradle of the Saints made a clear landing on the ground of the church. While the wounded mages from Angel Island were taken into the church for mending, Shahra and Reinforce Zwei, a duo of Unison Devices, boarded the warship and went into the Throne Room.

The warship's captain, Vivio, left her spot in the throne room to tag along with her trio of parents, who who went to visit Carim Gracia to ask about where Amy Rose and Tails were.

In the head knight's office, Sonic, Nanoha, Fate and Vivio stood as they conversed with the blonde woman.

"So.. how are Tails and Amy doing?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"Well.. while you were out on your honeymoon, those two have gotten a relationship going. In fact, today they were scheduled for a date at the mall. I'll call them back and you can catch up with them then?" Carim offered.

"The quicker, the better. We'll need those two for our mission into the Twilight Cage." Sonic noted.

"Speaking of that. Tell Hayate I asked for her on your way out." The head knight requested.

"Will do." Nanoha spoke as the trio dismissed themselves with Vivio in tow.

The four returned to the Cradle and met up with Shade along the way. Knuckles was nowhere to be seen which drew the attention of Fate.

"Where did Knuckles go? I thought he was with you." the enforcer asked.

"He went to go talk with someone named Schach." Shade replied.

"Sister Schach.. wonder what she wanted to talk to him about." Nanoha thought out loud.

"I'm not really sure, I couldn't hear what they were talking about." the female echidna shrugged.

"Vivio can't wait to see Tails-onii-chan and Amy-oba-chan." Vivio sounded as chipper as ever to see her brother and aunt figure return.

"Vivio? That's your name right? Can I ask you something?" Shade asked in a rare showing of curiosity.

"Hai." The young girl chimed back in a sing-song way.

"Aren't you a bit young to be doing something so dangerous like this? What do your parents think of it?" the echidna couldn't help but ask.

"We were a bit surprised at first to see her here piloting the ship, but she assured us that she'd be safe." Fate replied.

"We're also no stranger to the dangerous work when we were younger either." Nanoha noted.

"Plus, if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be here." Sonic finished.

"Wait.. the three of you are her parents?!" Shade seemed a bit surprised

"Hai!" Nanoha and Fate answered at the same time as they picked up Sonic and Vivio respectively for a cute hug moment.

"Nanoha! Put me down! Total abuse of size advantage!" Sonic flailed comically after the moment was over.

"Fate-mama! You too!" Vivio mimicked her "papa's" actions.

The duo giggled as they released their "captives", allowing them to pat themselves off of the dust that somehow accumulated. Sonic gave his adoptive daughter a little extra patting of her dress to make sure it was clean.

The moment was interrupted as two figures entered the hallway from the outside of the ship, a yellow two-tailed fox and a pink hedgehog in a red dress walked in together, hand in hand as if returning from a romantic date.

"We're back! What did we miss?" The fox asked

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 9  
Enter the Twilight Cage

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Parked at the Saint Church]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

A young and lovely couple strolled contentedly through the hallway of the warship. Miles "Tails" Prower and Amy Rose, who just returned from a shopping date at the mall as evidenced by the bags the pink hedgehog carried, approached the others in the hall.

"Well look who's just in time for the show." Sonic greeted the couple with his trademark grin.

"Hey, Sonic" Tails waved.

"Hey, Sonikku, Nanoha, Fate. How was your honeymoon?" Amy asked, anxious for the details of her former love interest's time off with his wives.

"Romantic and fun.. I will say no more." Sonic replied back.

"Darn.." Amy snapped her fingers.

"If I may ask, who are these two?" Shade inquired.

"This is Private Miles Prower, but everyone just calls him Tails, and his girlfriend, 2nd Lieutenant Amy Rose." Fate introduced the couple to the echidna.

Shade bowed in a gesture of respect, "Pleased to meet your acquaintance. I'm Shade of the Nocturnus, formerly Procurator.. and formerly part of the "Marauders" as you people called us."

Amy and Tails took a good look over Shade, the pink hedgehog noted something peculiar, "You're an echidna?! I thought Knuckles was the last one."

"Oh, here we go again.. Okay, before we go into some long explanation, let's meet up in the Throne Room with Shahra, Reinforce and the others so that way we don't have to repeat ourselves over and over and over again." Sonic noted.

"Hai!" the others agreed and continued into the Throne Room.

* * *

**[Throne Room]**

Two figures, both female, were waiting in the room of the warship, they were Reinforce Zwei and Shahra the Ring Genie. Reinforce was a miniature "human" with long silver-bluish hair and deep blue eyes. Her uniform was a blue blazer and skirt combination as matching of the other uniforms for the squad she was part of. Shahra had pinkish-purple hair, blue eyes, and also wore the same uniform matching her counterpart. In comparison to one another, Shahra absolutely towered over Reinforce, but was still slightly shorter than Nanoha and Fate.

"Hey! Sorry we're late." Sonic announced his own presence and the presence of the others with him as they entered, "Had to pick up a couple of hitch-hikers" he pointed his thumb behind him to indicate Amy and Tails.

Reinforce Zwei gave an energetic wave to acknowledge the blue blur and his friends while Shahra waved as well, but a little more calmly.

"Hey everyone." Zwei was as advertised in her energy.

"We heard the reports from Carim-san at the church. We're here to help in any way we can." Shahra added.

"Great, thanks" Sonic gave the two his trademark grin and thumbs up.

"So.. how was your vacation?" the mini-Unison Device asked, oblivious to the actual romantic implications of said "vacation"

"Must everyone ask that?" Sonic thought out loud.

"Yup.. we just can't seem to get a break" Nanoha replied.

"Well, we did take a few weeks off and spent some time at a beach resort.. so they probably are curious." Fate noted.

"And your honeymoon was in the best beach resort on Mid-Childa." Amy gushed about the resort.

"So we keep hearing.." Sonic sighed, "Can we move on? We don't have much time to sit around talking about honeymoons and dates."

"He's got a point there.." Fate noted, "Once Hayate gets back from Carim's office we'll be heading off to the Twilight Cage to search for the Emeralds."

The group spent the next half-hour explaining about the events that Tails, Amy, Shahra and Reinforce Zwei missed, including the theft of the Master Emerald, the worm-hole to the Twilight Cage opening, Lord Ix and who the Nocturnus clan were. All in all a complete recap of the previous events up until the Cradle landing at the church.

"So, in order to find the seven Chaos Emeralds, we have to go into this place called the Twilight Cage." Tails summarized.

"Yeah.. it'll be a bit tough because the area's unfamiliar." Fate noted.

"That won't be too much of a problem actually." Shade coutnered, "I've visited most of the worlds inside the Cage, and I also know Nocturne Island well enough. So I can guide your teams through."

"That will be appreciated." Hayate spoke as she walked in from her conference with Carim of the Saint Church.

"What's up?" Sonic asked.

"Carim-san and Chrono-kun have given us permission to use the Cradle for this mission. We'll leave when we're ready." the brunette replied.

"Got it! Let's gather the others." Nanoha noted.

**[Half-hour later]**

Shadow, Vita, Knuckles, Nove, Cinque and Teana gathered in the Throne Room along with the others of the unit that Hayate commanded. All dressed in uniforms matching the unit they were part of, the members stood at attention for their commander to address them.

Hayate gave a short speech, "As most of you already know, the Master Emerald has been stolen by Lord Ix of the Nocturnus clan. We're going to pursue him in the Twilight Cage and bring back the emerald." she gave an indication to Shade to step forward, "This is Shade, formerly of the Nocturnus, she rebelled when Ix announced his plans of conquering the world and disagreed with them. She will be our guide in the Cage since she knows the areas there the most."

"I hope I can redeem myself to you all for the deeds I've done against you." Shade spoke in a formal tone.

"She will.. now.. if we're all ready. I'll give the signal to Carim and we'll be off." Hayate noted.

"Hold on, please!" Carim's voice was heard from the hall as she walked through the door accompanied by a girl with light-blue hair and light-green eyes, wearing a church nun's outfit.

"Carim-san? What are you doing here with Sein?" Hayate asked, identifying the girl who was with Carim as Sein of the Numbers.

"Before you leave, I want her to accompany your unit. I feel that her abilities will come in handy for this one." Carim explained.

"Well.. the more the merrier, they always say." Sonic noted.

"Thank you.. That will be all. You're free to leave anytime." Carim exited the ship quickly

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Exterior]  
[BGM: "Launch" FFX OST]**

The Cradle of the Saints gave off a faint blue-ish aura as it powered up it's engines. The ground shook around the vicinity of where the massive warship was "parked". The weather was clear as can be with only a slow east-to-west breeze and 85 degree temperatures. All the signs seemed clear for the warship to launch off for it's mission.

Carim Gracia, Admiral Chrono Harlaown and the rest of the people designated to remain watched as the warship was about to launch off. The members of the Bureau took measures to ensure the capture and custody of Eggman before doing anything else.

The warship gave off a loud noise as it made it's launch and blasted off into the mid-day sky. The thruster engines of the rear of the ship gave it a boost of speed as it rapidly approached the worm-hole to the Cage.

"Here we go..." Hayate spoke from her spot inside the Throne Room as the Cradle of the Saints descended into the Twilight Cage.

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Saint Church's preparations for the cosplay event]**

While Hayate had her drama and fun preparing her crew for the upcoming cosplay co-op event, Carim Gracia had her own fun with the members of her church.

The head knight had a note-book near her desk when she had Schach and Sein report to her office.

"All right you two.. I'm not about to be outdone by Hayate when we hold our event.. so what I want you to do is go around the church and get as many members as possible to wear these outfits." the woman asked, indicating a bag by her desk.

"Will do.." Schach and Sein agreed. One more stoic than the other.

"To make this more interesting.. How about a wager.. whichever of you gets the more members into the cosplay gets a special gift during the event." Carim added.

That alone got both girls rushing out of the door. The story shall be continued!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 9]**

Author's Notes: Sorry for the delayed updates... schoolworks catching up on me still.


	10. Record 10

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus arc of Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record. And here's where the fun really starts.. the planets in the Twilight Cage.. I can say this though, I'm going to be a bit original with it. That's all I'll say for now. Let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

The Saint's Cradle, warship and command station for the Special Mobile Force 6, flew through the space of the seemingly endless Twilight Cage. The "Cage" itself provided a rather beautiful look to it. Indigo gas swirling around the stars in the distance added to an astonishing backdrop. If one were to look, and sure enough many were as the ship's visual feeds to the exterior and background were not interfered with, they found the worlds around were not shaped like traditional round planets, many were island shaped, like the Nocturne Island, which served as a mid-point between the majority of the other worlds.

"All systems are clear. Vivio is running the Chaos Emerald scanner now." Vivio reported from her seat on the throne.

"Good job, Vivio. Keep the ship at a low speed and steady. The last thing we want is some unwanted attention." Hayate acknowledged.

"Hai!" Vivio replied.

Fate, Nanoha, Shade and Sonic took in the scenery, rather the majority of it that they could from their viewpoint.

"It's so... beautiful." Fate said in a bit of awe.

"You might think that with how it looks.. but, soon enough after being forced to live here for years with no way of knowing how to get back to your true "home", it loses it's appeal." Shade sighed.

"I can understand that." Sonic noted.

"Me too.." Nanoha added.

As Fate scanned around the area, she found a bit of a frown crossing her features, one of deep thought over something she caught sight of.

Sonic immediately took notice, "Fate, are you okay?"

Her husband's voice woke the Enforcer from her thoughts, "Huh? Oh I'm fine.. it's nothing."

"Alright then.." Sonic shrugged, though his suspicions were still up, '_Something's bothering her...'_

"_That dark shape in the background... it couldn't be... could it?" _ Fate thought to herself.

All thoughts and attention were dragged back to the center of the room as an alarm rang out.

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 10  
The Stone Builders, Kron

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Inflexible determination" FFX OST]**

A large map appeared in the center of the room. The map displayed several planetary rocks that were confirmed to be inhabitable. Only one of these forms could be seen in better detail yet. This one in particular seemed to look like a Mars-like desert from the distance. What drew the most attention was the red dot that was flickering from a location on this surface.

"Vivio detected a Chaos Emerald from this area." Vivio informed from her seat.

Shade recognized almost immediately what the "Planet" was, "It's the Kron Colony."

"The what?" Nanoha asked.

"Kron.. a civilization of stone workers.. They are allies to Lord Ix.." Shade explained.

"Why would they work for him?" Fate asked.

"You must understand. Lord Ix has control over almost all of the regions here in the Twilight Cage. He's enslaved or bribed most of the races here. So whatever he asks, they will do." the echidna replied.

"Almost?" Nanoha asked.

"There is one region in which he does not have control over, but I don't know of it too much other than we've been told not to take our ships anywhere near it, for fear of our safety."

"Why?" Fate asked, her curiosity is peaked.

"They say that it belongs to a witch so powerful that she had Lord Ix kneeling at her for mercy" Shade shrugged.

"Uh.. not sure if that's really saying much, I mean Vita was able to overpower him without even trying." Sonic noted.

"He was probably not used to your world's terrain." Shade countered.

"Alright, that'll do for now.. While the mention of this region is curious enough to think about looking into, let's focus on the Emerald that's on this "Kron" colony." Hayate directed the attention back towards the map.

"Vivio's beginning the landing now." Vivio pressed a few keys on the console and commanded the Cradle to slowly make a descent.

* * *

**[Kron Colony: Surface]  
[BGM: "Scorching Desert ~theme of Bikanel Island" FFX OST]**

The ship landed safely on the desert-like surface of the Kron colony. The first to disembark was a scouting party of Sonic, Nanoha, Shade, Fate and Amy. All were dressed in their respective armors and such, they weren't going to take any chances.

"The ground here's sturdy." Amy observed .

"Look over there." Fate pointed to a few machines scattered around the colony region.

"It looks like some sort of factory?" Nanoha asked.

"A mining facility to be exact." Shade explained, "The Kron are well known throughout the Cage for the ore their colony holds. It's sturdy and can be refined into anything."

"Including weapons?" Nanoha asked.

"Of course...such as mallets and shields." the echidna replied.

"Let's not waste any time. We've got an emerald to find." Sonic noted.

"I think the "Kron" have a different idea about that.. look." Fate pointed in front of them to indicate two figures.

What approached them slowly were two bulky humanoids. They stood at 2 meters tall. Their entire bodies were made of stone and lacked any organic organs, and the only signs of life their bodies displayed were the orange glowing lines across their body and eyes. They had stubby arms and legs and possesses a large stone orb which made up most of their torso, and only a thin spine connecting their upper and lower body. The remainder of their bodies were made of layers of rock and they had orange vizors where they had eyes.

"Halt, Nocturnus! Defile you shall not this sacred ground!" a deep voice resonated from the figure on the left.

"Nocturnus?! They think we're Nocturnus?!" Sonic blinked in a bit of surprise.

"Well my armor isn't helping much.." Shade deadpanned.

"Still we're human.." Nanoha noted, "Well.. most of us.. Sorry Sonic-kun, Shade-chan, Amy-chan."

"No offense taken, Nanoha." Shade shrugged.

"Miss did you our meaning?" The second Kron asked, "Die you now! Nocturnus fools!"

**[BGM: "Normal Battle" FFX OST]**

The orbs in between the bodies of the Kron spun at a rapid pace as they fired them for the group.

"Whoa!" Sonic barely managed to dodge as the orb left a large crater where the hedgehog previously jumped from, "Talk about powerful!"

"Their strong but slow." Shade provided, "Their stone bodies also make them very resistant to physical attacks."

"Rosa Blutenblatt!/ Bardiche" Amy and Fate respectively called to their devices.

"**Raketenform / Haken Form"** Both devices replied simultaneously and loaded a few cartridges. Amy's Blutenblatt morphed it's head into a missile, while Fate's Bardiche opened it's head for a yellow blade of magic energy to run through.

"Raketen..." Amy spun around from the rocket burst from the rear end of her device, "Hammer!" and launched at high speeds and made impact with the drill-end of the missile. The missile and momentum managed to pierce a small hole in the side of the Kron warrior. The hole continued to grow in size as she continued to drill with the missile. The hole got to the size of her hammer before she had to withdraw to avoid a stocky arm swipe.

Fate used her device as a scythe as she took a powerful swipe at the second Kron. The mana blade did quite the damage with the gash it made in the rock, but it could only stagger the warrior briefly as there was still plenty of armor left.

Shade followed up Amy's attack with a flurry of slices from her energy blades, the leech effect did wonders as the Kron was drained and then pushed away for Sonic to deliver the final spin-dash and crushed the warrior into the wall.

Nanoha followed Fate's attack with a round of her Axel Shooter. The bolts did quite a bit more damage as well and set up the warrior for the big attack. Nanoha performed that big attack and unloaded her Divine Buster and sure enough the two Kron warriors became wall-buddies.

**[BGM: "Scorching Desert ~Theme of Bikane Island" FFX OST]**

The Kron warriors managed to recover from the impacts, but still looked worse for wear.

"Surrender we do.." The first one said as they still both staggered to move.

"It would have been easier if you gave up before we started kicking your butts.." Sonic noted.

The second one spoke, "Fought we have many Nocturnus. Not Nocturnus are you. Small creatures with fur. Look you like Nocturnus. Tall creatures with no fur and odd bumps on front and back. Not look you like Nocturnus.. Must be party of Sonic the Hedgehog and company."

Nanoha and Fate equally blushed a tad bit at probably one of the comments the second Kron warrior spoke, probably misinterpreted what was said.

"You know about us?" Sonic got to the point quick.

"Yes.. Lord Ix has set a bounty on all of you.. The bounty orders for your capture." The first warrior replied, "Wish we to live peacefully on this ground, but forced we were for Lord Ix to build weapons and ships. Enslaved us did Lord Ix. Stole he our precious ore."

"Angry became we. Decide we to fight." the second one added

"Why do you talk funny?" Nanoha couldn't resist

"Talk we funny? Maybe you not listen well." The first Kron shot back.

"_He got you there"_ Sonic teased Nanoha in mind-speak.

"_Mou.. Sonic-kun" _Nanoha pouted.

"_He's right" _Fate added.

"_Not you too Fate-chan"_ the white mage's embarrassment was as visible as it could be.

Amy Rose cleared her throat to get the attention back on the others then turned back to one of the bulky Kron, "Do you know anything about the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Brought crystal here did Ix.. Haven't seen it other than the factory.." the first one replied.

"Perhaps we could help you against Ix?" Fate asked.

"Help us against Lord Ix? Mad gone you.. Mad gone!" the second Kron spoke.

"Oy oy.. we haven't gone mad or anything.. we're here to defeat Ix.. if we help you, then his forces will get weaker."

"Then speak you with Foreman Krag, our leader." the first one noted.

"Go you now.. Before change minds we do." the second one added.

"We'll do that." Sonic noted.

The twin Krons pointed their fingers to a door and spoke simultaneously in a somewhat creepy fashion, "Through the door you go. In there Foreman Krag is."

The team made it to the door and stood in front for a few brief minutes before going in.

"Okay.. so we're about to meet a leader of a foreign race.. don't say anything that'll upset him." Sonic cautioned.

"I suggest you let me do all the talking. I did pass the diplomacy training that you get as an Enforcer with flying colors." Fate noted.

"Good.. That will help us get some peace from the Kron leader." Shade spoke.

"Let's go inside, " Sonic opened the door wide enough to politely allow the ladies in first.

"_Sooo wasn't an obvious attempt at brownie points..."_ Sonic mind-spoke to Nanoha, Fate and Amy.

"_Suuuuuure.."_ the trio answered back.

**[BGM: "Between Ordeals ~Theme of Cloister of Trials~" FFX OST]**

The group of 5 walked slowly though the halls. They got a few stares and fish-eyes from the other Kron in the hallway, but still did their best to appear as peaceful as possible.

The hall led to a wide room where the "Foreman" stood, the only difference separating him from the others of the Kron colony was the presence of a glowing "scar" along his head area, near the visor for his eyes.

"Brrmm.. Come you closer.. Let see you the mighty Foreman Krag." the stocky leader spoke and looked over the group of 2 hedgehogs, 2 humans and an echidna, "Mmm.. Yes.. Heard of you all I have.. Wanted enemies.. Sonic the Hedgehog.. Fate Harlown.. Nanoha Takamachi.. and Traitor Shade... Demanded has Lord Ix the capture of you all.."

"Yup.. Not here for a few minutes and already we've got bounties on our heads.." Sonic sighed.

"Capture you we will not." the Foreman stated, "Enslaved our colony did Lord Ix.. No longer shall we obey his orders."

"How can we help you against Ix?" Sonic asked.

"Capture Ix did our factory. Built we their tools, armor, and weapons unmatched in most of the worlds. Suffer we without our factory. Suffer must Nocturnus. But blocked are we; build Ix did a forecefield to keep us out from factory. Exists a loading platform beneath factory. Lower crane cargo there. Covers not does the forcefield there. Enter you there. Shut you down generator and bring down forcefield from inside. Then retake we will factory from outside.. by force. Do you this, and take you the crystal within the factory."

"I'm assuming this "Crystal" is the Chaos Emerald?" Fate asked

"Maybe help you more than help the Kron." Krag noted.

"We'll get to that then." Nanoha spoke out.

"Stand by will my soldiers. Ready to attack will they be. When fall does forcefield, meet you me in courtyard of factory." the Foreman dismissed the mages and watched them go outside.

* * *

**[Kron Colony]  
[BGM: "Scorching Desert ~theme of Bikanel Island~" FFX OST]**

The team made their way through the colony surface to the scene of the crane that would serve as their entrance. They encountered a slight problem though, the crane was inactive, the computers were on, but the crane was disabled due to inactivity.

"I'll try to patch in and get this thing up and running." Fate immediately went to work on the computer console, her unauthorized hack triggered an alarm.

The alarm sent several scouts rushing towards the crane to investigate the intrusion. Their blades were drawn the second they caught eye of the team.

"Great.. more trouble.. hold them off while I get this thing running." the enforcer went to work.

Sonic, Nanoha, Amy and Shade stood spread out slightly but evenly in a formation designed to act as a shield guarding one side. The Nocturnus scouts blitz-charged right into the formation as designed.

It didn't take long for the scouts to be overpowered and knocked out, and at the same time, Fate got herself into the system and turned on the crane that would serve as their method into the factory and bypassing the forcefield.

* * *

**[Kron Colony Factory]**

The team successfully infiltrated the factory overtaken by the Nocturnus, but they were still compromised by the alarm that followed Fate's hack into the crane systems. Guards were placed on high alert all over the region.

"They never do make it easy for us.." Sonic sighed.

"We're used to it though." Fate noted.

"Besides, Jail Scaglietti gave us more trouble than these guys, so we shouldn't have too much issues." Nanoha added.

"You're right.. let's go!" Sonic declared and the team charged their way though.

Scouts fell one by one, overwhelmed by the superior power the mages held in both their weapons and spells. They fought their way to the entrance of the forcefield control room, where a much unexpected and troubling surprise waited for them.

Two figures stood guard, both were very much familiar to everyone. These figures were gizoids and bore a much similar color scheme to Emerl, only these ones looked a bit different with their horns being longer.

"Great.. Gizoids.. watch out, they can copy your abilities." Fate cautioned.

The two gizoids bared their twin blades in an aggressive stance, ready for a good fight.

**[BGM: "Normal Battle" FFX OST]**

Fate and Sonic led off their attack as they disappeared into two flashes of light, one yellow and one sky-blue respectively. The flashes circled around both robots at high speeds. The blue one created a large tornado from it's speed while the yellow one laced it with powerful electric mana. The tornado's sheer force was powerful enough to drag both robots off their feet and caused a bit of a shock to them both to keep them unable to move in the tornado. From the top of the yellow and blue tornado appeared Sonic and Fate. The hedgehog spun into his spin-dash while Fate's Bardiche shifted into Zanber form. The duo blitz directly into the center of the tornado and impacted both Gizoids hard. The explosion from the blast sent both robots into the wall while Sonic and Fate landed gracefully.

The duo of gizoids got back up only to be skewered by the energy-leech blade flurry of slices from Shade. The echidna's melee training shined just as much as her elegance, grace and timing of each of her attacks. She made the display look pleasing, yet powerful as her attacks staggered the gizoids and keep them from moving.

Nanoha and Amy Rose double teamed and unleashed a powerful yet endless flurry of bolts attacks. Nanoha's Axel Shooter combined with Amy's Schwablifliegen created a powerful and coordinated effort.

Through the display of teamwork, the gizoids found themselves overpowered and quickly beaten down.

**[BGM: "Victory Fanfare" FFX OST]**

A small moment of time was taken to celebrate the powerful display of skills and teamwork.

"Well. Not bad for our first mission back." Sonic smirked.

"I must say I'm impressed by your group every day." Shade complimented, "Lord Ix must really value this factory if he sent Gizoids to guard it."

"Where did the Nocturnus get the Gizoids?" Nanoha asked.

"We built them of course.. wait how did you know about them?" Shade asked.

"We have a gizoid back on Mid-Childa working for the Saint Church, his name is Emerl.. If we knew we were going to be facing Gizoids, Hayate would have asked for Emerl to come along, but since we didn't, he opted to stay and guard with the rest of the church members who are keeping the planet protected in case any threats like Eggman show up while we're away." Sonic noted.

"We'll worry about that later.. at the moment we have to shut down the forcefield so that way the Kron can take their factory back." Fate pointed out.

"Got it! I'll take care of the door." Sonic spun into his spin-dash and burst the doors open with little to no effort.

"You know you could have just opened it." Amy Rose deadpanned.

"You would have done the same thing.." Sonic fired back.

"He's got you there." Nanoha backed up her husband's case, "Vita-chan has said you can be a bit reckless."

The pink hedgehog found herself pouting comically as the group entered the control room.

**[BGM: "Between Ordeals ~Theme of Cloister of Trials~" FFX OST]**

The control console for the forcefield was right in the center of the room. Fate immediately rushed for it and found it to be safe to use without having to hack into.

After a few buttons pressed on the console a brief quake was felt and the monitor for the console displayed the status of the forcefield as "Off"

"There.. that was easy enough." Fate noted.

More shaking was felt from the outside as the team could hear the Kron making a direct assault on the factory to take back what was theirs in the first place.

"Looks like the Kron are doing their part. Let's go meet up with the foreman." Nanoha noted as the group went outside.

* * *

**[Kron Colony: Exterior]  
[BGM: "Scorching Desert ~theme of Bikanel Island~" FFX OST]**

The mages rendezvoused with the Foreman of the Kron colony in the courtyard of the factory. His forces were scattered all throughout the factory taking out any Nocturnus that they could find.

The Foreman acknowledged the deeds of the mages, " Brrrm Brought down was forcefield. Retaken factory we have" he pointed to another door in the factory, "Take you the crystal in there. Go you. Guard do we factory from Nocturnus attack."

"Thank you Foreman Krag. We won't be long." Fate bowed politely and diplomatically as the team dismissed themselves to get the Chaos Emerald from the factory.

In no time the team came back to the Cradle with the Chaos Emerald, and with nothing to keep them there at the colony the warship took off for the next region.

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Emerl at the Church]**

So where was Emerl while the others were at the Twilight Cage. When Sein was allowed to join the team for the twilight cage excursion, the gizoid found himself in Carim's office.

"You're probably wondering why I asked you here." Carim noted.

"If it's about me spying on the other church girls while they were changing it was Sein's idea!" Emerl spoke a bit guitily, knowing full well not to cross the head of the church.

"I already know about that.. and I'm giving you a chance to "redeem" yourself.. help me in my preparations for the upcoming cosplay event and you'll be free as you want." Carim played her leverage well.

"Okay.. what do you want me to do?" the robot asked.

"Simple.." Carim started to explain with a smirk. In the end both found themselves laughing.

Whatever could be planned with Carim?! To be continued.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 10]**

Author's Notes: Okay I said it'd be longer.. well it is... I really really hate the Kron right now! They talk weird! I don't write this stuff.. Jeez they sound like Yoda. And I wonder who that mysterious "witch" could be? Reviewers are free to guess, but I'm not spoiling.


	11. Record 11

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record. What other worlds await the heroes in the Twilight Cage I wonder? Well we'll find out here, now won't we? Thanks to everyone who's been following my stories and I continue to promise not to disappoint.. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha... Let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X OST]**

With the first Chaos Emerald safely secured in a storage area on board the Saint's Cradle, the members of Hayate's unit met up with their commander in the Throne Room to discuss the next plan.

"While you guys were away, Vivio had the emerald scanner running to detect other emeralds in the Twilight Cage." Hayate explained.

The mentioned Kaiser of the ship pressed a few digits on her throne armrest and a map displayed in the center of the room, several red dots were shown that indicated the locations of the Chaos Emeralds. Two of the red dots were located in a sector of the map with two masses of land, one that had a green shading to it, while the other had a dark blue shading, at least from the distance. The other region that held two dots seemed to be covered in the dark-purple gas that made up the cage.

"Vivio found four more emeralds, but can't find the other two." The girl noted.

"The last two are probably on Nocturne Island." Shade offered, "We won't be able to get in there, the whole island is surrounded by a force-field"

"So, what do we know about the Twilight Cage, Shade?" Sonic asked

"With the time we've spent here, we've been able to find out a bit about the races here and the colonies they inhabit." Shade noted.

"And this region here?" Sonic asked, indicating the blue and green worlds on the map.

"That's Sector Scylla" the echidna explained, "There's two colonies, the N'rrgal and Zoah. There's definitely some bad blood between the two races. Both have been deadlocked in a war since we've been here at least.."

"And the other sectors? Have you checked them all thoroughly?" Fate asked.

"All except this one," Shade pointed to the region in the fog, that coincidentally also held a detection of two Chaos Emeralds, "We didn't have no right to go there."

"Why not?" Hayate asked.

"It belongs to some female character, she wouldn't allow anyone to land. We had our reconnaissance ships take a look around; they found nothing but some old lab. And it didn't seem to be too concerning from that first look either." Shade noted.

"But it wasn't?" Nanoha inquired.

"I can't say for sure.. I was only told what the recon ships found. But, the place still scares me. A few friends of mine in another squad went out there once, hoping to salvage some metal for our weapons. Only trouble, they never came back again. And since that first official scouting mission, Lord Ix canceled all plans to investigate the area further. I can't say if he was "scared", but something got him to suddenly lose all interest." the echidna explained.

"Did you try to go there for your friends?" Fate asked.

"A few months ago I did. I slipped in on a small stealth unit and kept myself under the cloaking tech we had. Couldn't find my friends so I had to assume the worse. I did manage to take some samples and came straight back again before I was noticed. I don't think it will do any good to hang around there for too long." the former procurator replied.

"What kind of samples?" Hayate asked.

"Bits of rock and metal. I used it to upgrade my weapons, I was thankful that I wasn't noticed otherwise I would have been in big trouble." Shade noted.

"That area begins to interest me." Hayate spoke from a thoughtful expression, "What else do we know about this lady?"

"Nothing much, aside from the rumor that she's a witch." the echidna shrugged.

"Should Vivio set a course for that area?" Vivio asked

"I'd prefer we secure the emeralds from Sector Scylla first. It's the closest area to our ship" Shade was quick to voice her reluctance.

"Very well.. we'll check out Sector Scylla first.. Vivio, which colony is the closest to where we are?" Hayate asked.

"The green one." the young kaiser replied.

"That's the N'rrgal Colony." Shade noted.

"Okay, Vivio, set the course for the N'rrgal Colony!" Hayate ordered in excitement.

Vivio smiled cheerfully in response, "Hai!" and pressed a few keys on the throne as the massive warship made it's way to the N'rrgal Colony in the Scylla sector.

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 11  
A Tale of Two Colonies

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[N'rrgal Colony]  
[BGM: "Lost Jungle" Sonic Heroes OST]**

The Saint's Cradle made a soft landing on the green planetoid of the N'rrgal Colony. The dispatch team from the ship included Sonic, Shade, Nanoha, Fate and surprisingly Vivio.

"Vivio-chan? What are you doing out here? It's dangerous" Nanoha questioned

"Vivio wanted to help." Vivio answerd.

"What about the Cradle?" Fate asked.

"Vivio activated a security system to keep it protected while she's away" the young girl answered.

"Hope you can take care of yourself, Vivio.." Sonic noted.

"Vivio will be fine." there was an unusual bit of confidence about the young hetero-chromatic girl.

"Uh.. okay then.." Sonic shrugged a bit and looked around the area in disappointment, "This is the N'rrgal Colony? Doesn't look like much."

"Agreed there.." Fate nodded.

"We've got company.." Shade pointed to the distance where several green liquid slug-like creatures with four tentacle arms and four cyan eyes approached the Cradle.

"What the.." Sonic thought out loud as the creatures bypassed the party like they weren't even there and attached themselves to the Cradle.

The slimes attempted to suck something from the ship, only to encounter an electric barrier that formed around the entire warship. The barrier electrified the slimes and forced them off. The creatures seemed puzzled by the appearance of the barrier.

"Those were the N'rrgal..They were trying to absorb the energy from your ship." Shade explained, "In attempt to keep us from leaving."

"We're not going anywhere anyway.. The Cradle can't move unless Vivio's operating it." Sonic noted, "So it's kinda pointless.."

"Should we try to stop them?" Vivio asked.

"Nah.. the Cradle's doing that already.." Nanoha noted, "Let's go see who's in charge here so we can talk to them about the Chaos Emerald.

A lone N'rrgal came up to greet the group only seconds after it's brethren gave up on their attempts at the Cradle.

"Sssstop invaderrrrs.. Zoah spies arrrre nnnnot welcome here..." the slug-like creature spoke.

"We're not spies." Fate spoke in a diplomatic tone, "I'm Fate Takamachi, with me are my husband Sonic Takamachi, my wife Nanoha Takamachi, our daughter Vivio and our friend Shade.." she was careful to avoid blowing any cover she could get.

"Ahhh Sssssssonnnnnic annnnnd others... weee knoow of yooooou...you ssssssshalllll mmmeeet with the Queeeennn" the N'rrgal spoke.

"And if we refuse?" Nanoha asked

"Yoooooou have noooo cccchoiiice." the messenger responded.

"Very well, we shall meet with your queen." Fate said.

"Ssssmaaart crrrreaatures... Come nnnow, I take to you herrr.." the N'rrgal slithered away followed closely by the team.

Through a few caverns they went until the endpoint of a relatively large clearing. At the end of the clearing awaited a large figure that resembled a giant plam tree made of slime with a cyan slime orb on top, and several smaller cyan eyes covering the rest of the body.

"Yessss... Sonnnnic and Commmmpany.. Pleassse commme in.." the "queen" spoke, "Mannny timmmmes have we heard your names. You are ennnnemies of Lord Ixxxx, and thus an ennnemy of the N'rrgal."

"We're looking for a Chaos Emerald." Nanoha got straight to the point, "They were stolen from our world."

"What you wannt is not immmportant. We have before us the deadliesssst enemmmmies of the Nocturnusss.. surely we would be rewarded." The queen said, but didn't appear like she would turn the "prisoners" in anytime soon, instead, "We have ann offer to mmmake you. Annn offer that winnns you your freedommmm.. The Zoah have a nnnew secret weaponn, rumored to be powerfulll ennnnough to destroy the N'rrgal race onnnce annnd for all... Innn his innnfinite wisdomm, Lord Ixxx gifted us with the Gemmm of Power, a gem so powerful that the Zoah dare nnnot attack us..."

"Gem of Power..." Fate thought out loud.

"It's probably the Chaos Emerald.." Sonic offered.

"Nnnow nnneither race attacks the other, out of fear that both races will be destroyed. But we do nnnot trust the Zoah to be prudennnt..." the queen finished.

"What do you want from us?" Fate asked.

"We do nnnot fear the Zoah. Their ennnergy weaponnns cannnot hurt us. But their secret weaponnn freightennns us... Go. Steal the Zoah weaponnn and returnn with it in tow... We will forget that we captured you and givvve you the Chaos Emmmerald you so pathetically crrrave.." the queen spoke.

"Then we'll be on our way." Fate declared.

"Mmmy workers will give coordinnate to the Zoah Colony..Onnnce there, steal the weaponn and returnnn it to us.. This audience is over. Leave us nnnow.." the queen dismissed the group.

In a matter of a few minutes the team returned to the ship with the coordinates that the N'rrgal queen promised from her workers. The ship took off from there.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

Another meeting was called for by Hayate while the Cradle was in flight. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss plans of how to deal with the Zoah and N'rrgal.

"So, the N'rrgal Queen wants us to go to the Zoah Colony and steal whatever "secret weapon" they have, and in exchange she won't tell Lord Ix about us?" Hayate asked.

"Pretty much" Sonic confirmed.

"Well.. we were planning on going there anyway because of the Chaos Emerald signature we found, but I don't like being a "prisoner"." Hayate sighed.

"We already know that there's a Chaos Emerald on that colony, could there be a chance that the Emerald is the Zoah's secret weapon?" Nanoha asked.

"If so, then why give both the Zoah and N'rrgal Chaos Emeralds if they're both sworn enemies?" Fate wondered.

"Lord Ix is shrewd. It's possible that he wants to play both sides against each other." Shade offered.

"Playing both the Cowboys and the Indians. That's a plan that could sure blow up in your face." Sonic frowned in thought, "And get someone who isn't involved hurt.."

"You're right.. in any case, Vivio? How far are we from the Zoah Colony?" Hayate requested from the young Kaiser.

"We're about a few minutes out." Vivio started to say until the whole warship quaked and alarms rang out.

"What the?!" Knuckles cursed.

"We're being attacked!" Vivio alerted, "Weapons fire from ships!"

"Why are they shooting at us?" Nanoha asked.

"If I were coming with the Nocturnus, we would have been cloaked. The Zoah are doing what they do best.. Shooting at every damn ship they see coming in!" Shade shouted.

"Vivio's activating the shields now.. hang on, we're going to make a landing!" Vivio announced.

The warship's shields protected itself from the Zoah ships' lasers as it made it's landing. In all reality, though, the Cradle was so heavily armored, that the enemy fire wouldn't have penetrated the ship's hull anyway. With no issue, the warship made it's landing on the Zoah Colony.

* * *

**[Zoah Colony]  
[BGM: "Wacky Workbench ~Present~" Sonic CD (JPN)]**

Sonic, Fate, Sein, Shade and a surprisingly disgruntled Vivio disembarked from the Cradle. The warship was held under what appeared to be a tractor beam on the landing pad, which only added to the young girl's frustration.

"Oh... when Vivio gets her hands on those brutes, they'll be sorry!" the fury displayed from the young girl was serious, yet also at the same time comical in the way her face was tinted red like a cherry.

"Take it easy there, Vivio." Sonic chuckled.

"Yeah.. "Your Highness"." Sein added with her own chuckles, the cyborg just enjoyed using the nickname to embarrass Vivio.

"S-Sein! Vivio told you and the others not to call Vivio that!" the red tint on Vivio's face shifted to a more embarrassed blush, much to the cyborg's amusement.

"Excuse me for interrupting, but we've got company." Shade alerted the others.

The unwelcome wagon from the Zoah was rolled out in the form of a brute soldier. This soldier looked like a humanoid that was at least four meters tall, it's body was covered in dark armor with sparks from what appeared to be made from a energized cyan crystal in the core of their bodies. The Zoah brute absolutely towered over the party.

"State your business, invaders! Or we'll assume you to be N'rrgal spies." the guard spoke in a male voice.

"You recognize me, don't you?" Shade glared.

The Zoah glared at the echidna for a moment and a vocal smirk could almost be heard "Ah, yes. We recognize her, don't we boys?" the other two guards flanking him nodded, "And look, she brought a few friends too.. Shade, the traitor of the Nocturns, and the public enemies of Lord Ix. This must be my lucky day. Let's bring them in, boys. I smell a promotion in my future."

"You really expect us to go down without a fight after attacking our ship?" Sonic shook his head in annoyance.

Vivio stepped in front of the whole party, much to their surprise; the young girl was very much visibly ticked off and annoyed. She seemed set on fighting them, "Vivio will take care of them!"

"Oh really? A little girl, thinking she can beat the three of us? Why don't you go home to your mommy, because you have no chance against us.." The lead Zoah spoke in overconfidence.

"Uh.. Vivio? What are you doing?" Sonic asked, fearful for his daughter's life.

"You meanies tried to hurt Vivio's mamas and papa! Vivio will make you sorry for it!" A belkan triangle in the Kaiserfarbe (rainbowish) color appeared at the young girl's feet and an orb of energy emitted from her whole body, which resulted in a small flash.

"Whoa!" Sonic and the others shaded their eyes to protect from the light.

When the light ended Vivio appeared different...vastly different..her age went up to 19 in body, and it showed on her figure with a larger bust, her hair was tied up in a side-tail with a blue ribbon to tie it, her outfit consisted of a dark blue skin-tight suit with a white cape attached to her waist and a white jacket over her shoulders.

"Well.. that's different.. Still you have no match for us.." The Zoah brute commented.

"Fate-mama, Sein-san, Sonic-papa and Shade-san.. Please let Vivio take care of these meanies.." The Kaiser requested, her voice still young, but she was still serious.

"Okay.. go get them girl.." Sonic accepted. "We'll be here to back you up when you want."

**[BGM: "Normal Battle" Final Fantasy X OST]**

Vivio held a calm, yet confident battle stance as she readied herself for the trio of brutes that awaited her. Her opponents were not so "calm"; instead they looked down on her in an abuse of their towering size advantage. Shields formed in their left hands from the crystals in their body.

The first brute power-walked right for the Kaiser with its arm in the form of a large cyan, crystal spike. Energy leaked out from it as the brute struck down in a powerful swipe for the young girl. The attack was avoided with a display of grace in an agile dodge.

Vivio countered the blow with a powerful fist-thrust that she hooked at the last second to pierce the crystal shield and impact the left shoulder of the brute. The stagger effect she brought from the punch gave her the opportunity to throw the foe over her shoulder and to the ground in a harsh slam effect that knocked him unconscious.

The second brute attempted to blast the girl with a streak of lightning from his right arm, only for the girl to back-flip gracefully up and over the blast. The momentum from her jump carried her to land directly behind the Zoah. From point blank, Vivio unleashed a powerful rainbowish-colored beam upon the brute. The blast sent the Zoah into a wall where he then fell unconscious on the ground.

The final Zoah power-walked in and swung it's crystal weapon to attack the girl. Vivio flawlessly dodged and countered with a powerful roundhouse kick right to the brute's head and used the weight of her foe to drive him to the ground with said kick. Needless to say, the brute was overpowered and knocked out.

**[BGM: "Victory Fanfare" FFX OST]**

Vivio smiled cheerfully as she fist pumped the air in excitement, "Vivio won!"

Sonic just blinked and whistled from the display his foster daughter showed, "Wow.."

"V-vivio.. how did you?!" Fate was equally shocked

"Nove-san taught Vivio how." Vivio smiled as she remained in her grown-up form, where she was just about eye-level with her mama.

"Pardon my asking, how did she transform like that? She was barely over five and now she's almost our age.." Shade was just about dumbfounded by the magic she'd seen.

"She only did it one other time." Sonic answered, "And it's been awhile since I saw her like this. First time was accidental."

"How did you do that on your own?" Fate asked.

"The teachers from the Saint Church taught Vivio how to control it, but she learned on her own." Vivio replied.

"We can worry about it later, let's get going." Sonic noted.

**[BGM: "Wacky Workbench ~Present~" Sonic CD (JPN)]**

The team took a little stroll through the colony city. The Zoah Guards would shoot to kill on sight of them so they resorted to using the shadows to avoid detection. Sein and Shade, both experts in their own craft of stealth assisted Sonic, Fate and Vivio in making sure that they weren't detected.

Most of the chatter from the civilians was about the recent pirate attacks and something about a "Night Stalker" that would steal young ones away from anyone without a charm from "Haniman", a curious topic, but irrelevant to the group at the moment as their focus was on the Chaos Emerald that was somewhere around the colony.

While the guards didn't notice them, a short and stocky Zoah did and flagged the group down quietly, "Psst! Hey.. over here!"

"Excuse us?" Fate asked.

"Over here.. the guards have been placed on full alert since your group landed.." the fellow led the team to a shaded region out of eyesight and camera range.

"Why are you helping us?" Sonic asked.

"It all gets boring day after day of doing the same thing. I needed some drama or something interesting to talk about, as well as something for the locals to gossip. So I figure if I help you, then you'd give us something to talk about." the guy answered.

"Do you know anything about a Secret Weapon?" Fate inquired.

"Hm. Yes, I think I do. I remember the day it arrived. A large gem, right?" came the response.

"Sounds like the Chaos Emerald.." Sonic confirmed, "Any way we can find it?"

"Oh, you can't. It's a personal treasure of General Raxos, leader of our race. The only way to get it would be to issue an official Challenge." The Zoah civilian answered.

"How do we make an official Challenge?" Shade requested.

"Speak to the guards at the front gate of the base. Tell them you want to petition for the Right of Challenge. I can't beg you enough not to make a Challenge though. Please reconsider. General Raxos is dangerously strong."

"So are we.." Sein had a bit of confidence in herself and her teammates abilities.

"I'm afraid I've sent you to your deaths. If you must make a Challenge, then good luck." the civilian sighed in a bit of fear.

"We've got work to do.." Fate noted, "Please excuse us.."

"Good luck" the guy waved as he watched the group of five leave.

It didn't take too long for the group to reach what appeared to be the "entrance" that the helpful civilian talked about, sure enough there were also two Zoah guards who stood at attention.

"Ah.. well if it aint the Public Enemies.. come to turn yourselves in?" the guard asked.

"We're here to petition for a challenge" Fate declared.

"You must have citizenship to petition for challenges." The guard responded.

"Then we apply for citizenship!" Fate shot back

"Oh? Very well then.. follow us. A gentleman will assist you." the guards let the group inside.

* * *

**[Interior]**

The group found themselves staring what looked like a ring one would find in a martial arts tournament. No one was in sight aside from a stocky Zoah individual.

"You applied for citizenship? If you want it, defeat me" the "Gentleman" declared.

"Seems easy enough.." Sonic leaped into the ring with Sein, Fate, Shade and the grown Vivio in tow.

"Let me handle him." Sein took the lead.

"Alright then Sein, show us what you got.. like Vivio, we'll back you up if you're in a pinch." Sonic agreed.

**[BGM: "Normal Battle" FFX OST]**

Sein took to the immediate offensive with a bit of trickery through her IS "Deep Diver". She dove directly into the ground of the field like it was made from water. The action brought confusion to not only the Gentleman, but also Shade.

"Where did she go?! How the?!" Shade just blinked.

The Combat Cyborg leapt from the ground and delivered a powerful swiping punch to knock the Zoah foe to the ground. She took to the under ground again before her foe could attack again.

As Sein went on the offensive, Sonic explained to Shade about Sein's ability. "Sein's IS or "Inherent Skill" is known as "Deep Diver" with it, she can literally "dive" into any substance like a wall or the ground like it's water. She can literally phase and swim through it. A tactic she often uses to get a sneaky upper hand on anyone she faces."

As Sein swiped her foe from behind with her Deep Diver, Shade inquired, "What good will it do against drawn out battles?"

"Not much.. she's attacking with the intent on finishing this battle quickly." Just as Sonic said that, Sein finished off the Gentleman with no issue.

**[No BGM]**

The mentioned General appeared from a flash of sparks similar to a warp. If the brutes were towering, this one was huge, he could be distinguished from other Zoah by having two large metal rings for both shoulders instead of just one on the left, as with all other members of the military, possibly to show authority.

"That's enough!" General Raxos roared.

"So you're the one in charge." Fate noted the General's appearance.

"That is correct. I've been told you wished to challenge me? You passed your citizenship test. Now what's your reason for challenging me?" Raxos asked.

"We've been informed that a large gem, containing a massive amount of power, has come into your possession." Fate informed.

"Yes.. Lord Ix gave it to us just a few hours ago.. Oddly enough just before you arrived. I just had it stored when my ships alerted me of your presence." the General thought out loud.

"Putting two and two together, you'll realize that the gem in question belongs to us. It was stolen by Lord Ix." Fate informed, "And we're here to take it back."

"Oh ho! Well you can have it back.. if you defeat me in a Challenge" Raxos offered.

"Very well, then we Challenge you for "your" emerald!" Sonic declared.

"Good.. Very good.. I'm always up for a good brawl.. but before we fight, there's one little problem," Raxos noted, "There's five of you.. and only one of me.. That doesn't seem "Fair", now does it?"

"What if one of us fights you, one-on-one?" Sonic asked.

"That will be perfect.. Now which one of you will fight?" Raxos asked.

Sonic stood in front of the others, "Stand back ladies.. let me show ya how it's done.."

"Feeling brave, Sonic-kun? Now you're definitely out to impress Vivio and myself.." Fate teased.

"Heh! This will be easy" the blue hedgehog smirked in his confidence as he stared down the General, "Let's dance!"

**[BGM:" Normal Battle" FFX OST]**

Quick to make the first move, Sonic charged forward in his spin-dash and slammed into the General, but only to little effect as his foe's armor wasn't for decoration. Barely a dent was made as the hedgehog was force d to jump back to avoid the Zoah generals melee strike.

Sonic paused for a moment to think about his next method of attack, his solution turned up as he created multiple arrows of mana and flung them at the General. The arrows impaled the Zoah and pierced his armor quite a bit in comparison to the spin-dash Sonic hit him with to start it.

Raxos unleashed a powerful blast of energy on his blue furred opponent, only for the hedgehog to avoid it with a hop from the ground to a post at the corner.

Sonic jumped from the post back into his spin-dash and blazed into the pierced cracks of the armor of the Zoah general. That did the trick and forced him to the ground, but Sonic wasn't done there. With another leap back a few meters, he allowed the General to stand back up. With a certain cockiness about him, Sonic unleashed an all too familiar spell he learned from Nanoha; the Divine Buster. The powerful blast engulfed the General and sent him out of the ring and into the wall.

**[BGM: "Victory Fanfare" FFX OST]**

"I admit defeat" the General struggled a bit, but he managed to get up, "You have impressed me.. Few have been able to do what you've done."

"So.. we get our emerald then?" Fate asked.

"Yes.. You won it.. you keep it.." Raxos called for a scout to bring in the Chaos Emerald that was in his custody and give it to the blonde enforcer.

"You seemed awfully generous to give us our emerald, and a bit quick to accept our challenge." Sonic noted.

"What of it?" the General asked.

"You wanted to give us the emerald didn't you?" Fate came to the conclusion.

"Yes.. I did.. The only reason my forces were following Lord Ix's "Orders" weren't of my own choice.. Lord Ix bested me in a Challenge and as such we were under his orders.. Now that you've beaten me, your Challenge takes priority over his." Raxos explained, "Long have I wanted to stop being the lapdog of Lord Ix."

"I understand.. We'll take our leave" Fate noted, "If we need any help, you'll be the first to call."

"Fair travels.. The Zoah are in your debt." Raxos dismissed the group.

The group returned to the Cradle, which took off and made course for the N'rrgal Colony.

* * *

**[N'rrgal Colony]  
[BGM: "Lost Jungle" Sonic Heroes OST]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Vivio, Fate and Shade departed from the Cradle with the Chaos Emerald they secured from the Zoah with them.

"Alright.. now let's meet up with the Queen." Nanoha noted.

"Right!" the others agreed.

It only took a few seconds for them to be noticed and all of the N'rrgal gathered in one place and formed the Queen. The display wasn't the most pleasing however.

"ugh... that's gross.." Sonic shook his head.

"Apolllogies forrr the disssplay... We are innn a hurry to knnow what you founnnd..." The queen spoke.

"We've got the Zoah's "Secret Weapon"..." Fate held out the Chaos Emerald.

"It isss a gemmm like our Gemmm of Power..." the Queen observed.

"That's because it is.. This is one of the Chaos Emeralds that Ix stole from our world, and he gave one to both you and the Zoah." Fate explained.

"Thennn Lord Ixxx lied to usss..." a hint of frustration was visible from the Queen's expression.

"And you're surprised?" Shade asked, "Lord Ix is shrewd.. He was playing you two.."

The Queen entrusted her own Chaos Emerald, the green one, in the hands of young Vivio, "Take thisss, our Gemmm of Power. Use it to destroy Lord Ixxx. He will pay for his liesss..."

"Thank you, your highness.." Fate bowed in respect, "We'll be on our way."

With that the team took their leave back into the Cradle and departed the world.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

After 3 worlds, they obtained 3 of the 7 Chaos Emeralds; the blue, green and red gems were secured safely in a storage area in the Throne Room on display. The final two that were detected came from the region in the purplish mist.

"That's the area.. where the rumored Witch lives.. and coincidentally the last two emeralds are in that region." Shade thought out loud, "I don't like this..."

"Don't worry about it, Shade." Sonic was optimistic, "We'll be alright if we stick together, right Fate?"

Fate seemed in deep thought until Sonic asked her attention, "Huh? Oh.. hai.. we'll be fine.."

"Hmmm..." Sonic frowned in his own thoughts. The hedgehog opened a mind-speak with Nanoha, _"Are you noticing that something's off with Fate?"_

"_You too? Fate-chan seemed distant.. and I think it has something to do with that region we're heading for.."_ Nanoha replied.

"_Let's keep an eye on her.. hopefully it's nothing too serious.."_ Sonic's worries were laced in his tone in the mind-speak.

"_Hai.."_ Nanoha closed the link with a frown as she joined Fate and Sonic in watching the sky as the ship flew for its destination.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Emerls antics at the Church]**

While Emerl was "benched" at the Saint Church. He was relegated to "cosplay enforcement" by the head knight of the church.

The robot walked around, giving out costumes to all of the church members, though he had to endure the laughter as he walked on by them.

"_While this is good and I'm earning back those brownie points for Carim-san.."_ Emerl thought to himself as he gave the costumes away, _"I wish I didn't have to do it wearing THIS!" _The Gizoid had to wear a maid's outfit as he gave out the costumes. Clearly not what he had in mind.

Meanwhile, a few giggles were heard from Carim's office as she read the report about her robot giving cosplay costumes whilst wearing a maid outfit.

**[Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 11]**

Author's Notes: By far the LONGEST chapter in this whole story! Whew! I gotta be writing this length of chapters more often! Heh heh.. I wonder who this "Witch" that Shade mentioned could be.. and what's got Fate so worked up?


	12. Record 12

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Nocturnus arc of Lyrical Record. Well, I drop a few hints, and here is the chapter of a "reveal".. though I'm going to be honest, any Nanoha fan that read my story, which I'm sure there's quite a few, they're just keeping quiet and enjoying it; they wouldn't be too surprised by this "reveal". I practically stopped short of spoiling it.. I flirted with spoiling, but did not budge any further.. anyways, enough chatter. I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters or elements, they belong to Sonic Team. I also don't own Lyrical Nanoha or any character, they belong to Seven Arcs. Let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]  
[Time: appx 2 hours after entry]**

**[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X OST]**

There was an eerie silence among all in the Throne Room of the warship as it flew through the space of the Twilight Cage towards its destination. Not a word was said, not from Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Shade, Hayate, Knuckles, Sein, Nove, Cinque, Vita, Shadow or Teana; all of them were either nervous for the upcoming destination like Shade and Fate; worried for their friends like Sonic, Teana, Vivio, Hayate and Nanoha; or stoic like Nove, Cinque, Knuckles, Shadow and Vita.

The Cradle of the Saints approached the region surrounded in the purplish mist, and with every second of the approach, the silence grew more unnerving and more serious.

Finally, Vivio broke the silence with an announcement, "We're approaching the next world. Vivio thinks we'll arrive within five minutes."

"Hai.. thank you, Vivio-chan." Hayate thanked the young girl for her efforts.

"_Well, Nanoha-chan.. I think we're about to see what's got Fate-chan so nervous." _Sonic mind-spoke to his brunette wife.

"_Hai..."_ came the soft reply, even Nanoha felt the nerves get to her.

"_You too now?"_ Sonic asked.

"_I think I know what Fate-chan's so worked up over.. and I can't blame her if I'm right.."_ Nanoha replied back

"_What is it?"_ the hedgehog asked, but received no response. In a bit of confusion, Sonic immediately opened a link to Hayate, _"Hayate.. Now Nanoha-chan's gone silent.. you have any clues as to why?"_

"_I think I do.. but I can't really be too sure because what they're thinking about happened before I met them."_ Hayate answered back.

The mist slowly cleared as the Cradle approached, the silence continued as a dark shape started to reveal itself. The time passed slowly in the minds of Fate and Nanoha, who both nervously waited to see if their suspicions and fears would be right or wrong.

Finally, in what seemed like hours, but in reality were only a few minutes; the dark mist cleared to fully reveal the planetoid that the ship headed for. Sure enough, gasps of shock came from both Nanoha and Fate, but none louder than the enforcer. Through the mist was a small asteroid-like structure with the exterior covered with large spikes with a few spheres along the ridges. The place was all too familiar to Fate.

"T-that's the... Garden of Time!" the yellow-haired enforcer gasped in shock.

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 12  
Reunion

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Throne Room]**

After the Garden of Time was revealed through the mist, Fate was completely silent and in shock. The memories of the asteroid came back and assaulted her; she knelt down in phantom pain as the memories overwhelmed her.

"Fate-chan!" Sonic and Nanoha instantly rushed and embraced their friend in concern.

"Kaa-san..." was muttered repeatedly by the nearly traumatized Fate.

"Fate-chan.. you're going to be okay.." Nanoha attempted to comfort, "Sonic-kun and I are here.."

"Please, Fate-chan.. listen.. everything's alright.." Sonic added.

The feelings of love and support helped Fate to regain her balance and stand up, despite the shaken up feeling, she managed to calm herself, "I'm okay.. Sorry to put you two through the trouble.."

"It's fine, Fate-chan" Nanoha dismissed any notion of apology.

"We care for you, Fate-chan" Sonic added, "Neither Nanoha-chan nor myself mind it.."

"Okay..." Fate finally regained her composure with a sigh.

"So, I can tell you know the place." Sonic pointed out, "What's up?"

"The Garden of Time is where I used to live with kaa-san during the Jewel Seed incident." Fate explained.

"Jewel Seed incident?" Sonic asked, which brought a sigh from Nanoha to respond.

Nanoha and Fate explained the incident in mentioning to Sonic. Particularly how it was related to Fate's mother, Presea Testarossa, and the Garden of Time.

"So.. there's a good chance that your mother is here, Fate-chan?" Sonic asked.

"It all would make sense, rumors of a "witch" and the Garden of Time." Fate agreed, "Though something's bothering me.."

"What is if?" Nanoha asked.

"How did kaa-san survive? And what's she doing here?" the enforcer questioned out loud.

"Well there's one way to find out." Sonic offered, "Find her and ask her."

"Vivio's initiating the landing sequence now" Vivio informed the group.

* * *

**[Garden of Time]  
[BGM: "Run!" Final Fantasy X OST]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Vivio, Shade, Shadow and Fate were deployed from the Cradle after it landed. The young kaiser opted to her adult form to protect herself, Fate and Nanoha respectively held their devices at hand and Sonic held himself in a defensive battle-like stance, ready for a fist-brawl.

"This place still gives me a bad feeling.." Shade noted with a hint of nervousness.

"Then why are you still here?" Shadow asked neutrally, he honestly held no ill will toward the echidna, but he felt the question needed to be asked, "If you don't want to be here, no one's stopping you from retreating."

"Because I want to help" the echidna shot back, "And I want to redeem myself.."

"Shade-chan, we already forgave you for earlier." Nanoha noted, "You were only doing what you thought was right for your people."

"Guys, let's just get going." Fate did not wish to deal with any bickering.

"Alright! Time to meet the in-law!" The hedgehog.

It was only a few steps into the large asteroid, but the teams presence was already detected. They were greeted by a group of soldier-like robots. To some like Nanoha, Fate, Vivio, Shadow and Sonic; the machines didn't look like much with their yellowish-bronze armor and one-handed swords in each respective robots right hand, but Shade had some other thoughts.

"These were the machines that some of our scouts found during their recon, the very same machines that overpowered us in technology." Shade noted as her nerves grew.

"Meh.. they seem routine to me." the blue hedgehog shrugged.

"Vivio's not worried because she's got Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama and Sonic-papa with her." Vivio's confidence was on par with her excitement over the mission.

"Anyone up for a little game?" Sonic laid down the gauntlet, "Whoever takes down the most scrap metal wins?"

"I'm up for it, Sonic-kun" Nanoha smiled as she took the bet.

"Count me in too" Fate added.

"Vivio won't lose!" the young kaiser smiled a bit as she took the challenge.

"Prepare to lose, hedgehog" Shadow smirked.

"You sure about this? Sonic-san? A game?" Shade was shocked at the thought.

"Relax, Shade, we got this" Sonic readied himself in a runners stance, "Ready... Go!"

* * *

**[BGM: "Normal Battle" FFX OST]**

Over twenty robots rushed in per programming against the intruders with their swords held ready to attack. Despite the advantage of numbers, none of the robots made contact with their enemies on the first strike.

Sonic, quick and agile as advertised, took a powerful leap to avoid one sword strike and countered with his spin-dash; the momentum from his jump and the gravity combined for a clean hit on the robots head. The hit did not crush the machine completely, the hedgehog attacked for contact and a "set-up" for his next attack. With the advantage seized on the counter, he mashed the robots body with a powerful roundhouse kick; this time the attack was for power; sure enough the robot was sent to the wall where it broke into pieces.

Shade had a much more difficult time with the robots; despite all the hard work, weapons, experience and skill she held and used, none of her attacks could even dent the machines. She was pinned down by three and in a pinch. Thankfully, her blue hedgehog of a comrade gave her a helping hand with an overpowering blue streak from his spin-dash that cleared through the center of the trio of robots.

Shadow, like his blue rival, also was quick in his assault to the machines. His chaos powers, combined with his speed that nearly rivals Sonic and his spin-dash, overpowered and dominated a wave of machines that he set his sights on.

Fate, Nanoha and Vivio each dominated in their own way as a trio of trouble. The blonde enforcer sliced her way through the robots with her Haken-form Bardiche with her above-average mana strength that was boosted by cartridges and speed. Nanoha, true to her form, blasted away from her preferred distance with Divine Buster and Axel Shooter; though it wasn't like she was incapable of defending herself from melee; she could with her device, she just preferred not to. Vivio proved to be the surprise of everyone; her adult-form, which already gave Nanoha a shock with how she was able to maintain control, gave her an extra sting up close, and her memories of her past gave her the skills that turned the young kaiser into a true force to be reckoned with.

In a matter of a few minutes, most of the robots were crushed in every way possible; the victor of the "contest" turned out to be a tie between Sonics six and Vivios six. Nanoha came in second with five, tied with Fates five. Shadow, through all of his power, came up short with four. That left Shade, who struggled, but put up enough effort to get away with two robots destroyed.

* * *

**[BGM: "Run!" Final Fantasy X OST]**

The remainder of the robots did not initiate any combat, instead they stood still as if at attention or orders. Their sudden halt brought some confusion amongst the group.

"What the?!" Sonic asked out loud.

"Why did they stop?" Fate added

To bring more confusion, the robots lined up to the sides of the entrance, as if to make a "hall" for the group to go through. The robots held their blades with the tips stabbing the ground and the face in front. All of the signs indicated that the machines were done with fighting.

"Seems they have no more interest of fighting, or they were called off.." Shadow observed.

"I have a sinking feeling it's the latter.." Sonic noted.

"You're probably right" Fate agreed, "We better take this to our advantage and move on before they start fighting us again."

The group progressed through the corridors of the Garden of time, Fate had taken the lead because of how well she remembered the place she used to call "home". While she wouldn't forget the memories that the Garden has left her with, all the support she's gotten, added to her own resolve, have kept her strong.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at a room that held a large throne-like chair at the end. A woman sat in the throne. Her hair was a very darkish purple with some traces of gray sneaking in, it cascaded down her back to almost her knees with untamed bangs, one that covered her left eye. Her visible eye was dark-purple in color and her eye-lid was narrowed a bit in a seemingly neutral expression which extended to her purple lipstick covered lips. She wore a long dark-purple robe that did little to display a form of modesty; with a gap from her neck down to below her bust-line, displaying a window of her bare cleavage, in addition her belly and hips were also not covered by the cloth. All in all she was very attractive.

The woman gazed upon all of the group, but when her eyes laid upon Fate, her lips quirked a little bit, almost as if in a smirk, "Ah.. Fate, you've grown."

"Kaa-san..." Fate identified the woman who recognized her.

"That's her..." Nanoha couldn't forget the woman even if she wanted to, "That's Presea Testarossa"

"Well aren't you a real piece of work." Sonic snarked in a very obvious hint of anger and frustration.

"Sonic-kun!" Fate just stared at him.

Presea coughed loudly as if in a bit of pain, "No... it's fine..I think I deserved it... after what I've done..."

"Kaa-san, how did you get here?" Fate asked.

"Like I'd know" Presea hacked out another cough, "At first I thought I would die out there in space.."

* * *

_-Flashback-_

_Presea narrated her story, "After I fell with Alicia's body.. I thought the Imaginary Space would kill me.. I didn't mind, with nothing else to live for.. but I was more than wrong.. I suddenly felt a powerful tug and fell unconscious.."_

_The woman woke up, her Garden of Time restored, but floating in the prison that was the Twilight Cage, to her side was the life-less body of her daughter, still encased in the tube._

_Presea concluded her story, "I continued my studies for reviving my daughter, with nothing else to live for.. my work did not come undeterred.. as warring races from this place kept trying to take over my home, but they held no match for my machines or my power. Not even the feared Nocturnus clan, or their weak leader."_

_-Flashback end-_

* * *

"So the rumors are true.. you did defeat Lord Ix." Shade thought out loud.

"I could have done it in my sleep..." the woman spoke darkly, only to erupt into another fit of coughs.

"Okay, next subject then" Sonic wanted to waste no more time, "Where's the Chaos Emeralds? We detected the presence of two powerful gems from this area."

"I know what you want" the woman held her device as a walking stick as she stood up, "Come.."

With no other option, the group followed the sickly woman through a couple of corridors until they reached a door that led to a room.

* * *

**[BGM: "Keeping the Peace" Dissidia: Final Fantasy]**

The inside of the room looked much like any young girl's room with the walls painted a light blue and a sea-greenish and blue bed in the middle. The yellow and silver Chaos Emeralds were on a desk opposite the bed and in full view, but it was what laid in the bed that held all of the attention.

A young girl, just about Vivio's age, laid nestled under the covers, sleeping peacefully and innocently. The girl's hair was long and held the same color as Fates; in fact, she looked like a younger version of Fate.

"Isn't that..." Nanoha thought out loud.

"Alicia..." Fate said softly, "Is she.."

"Yes, she's alive and well.." Presea confirmed.

"How did you bring her back to life?" Fate asked.

"Must have been the Chaos Emeralds.. but usually for something as powerful as what she did, all seven would have to have been gathered.." Sonic offered.

"He's right.. "Lord" Ix.. that senile echidna came to me with a "peace" offering.. he'd use the gems to bring my daughter back.. in exchange I would have no interference in his "plans" the woman explained then erupted into another coughing fit, this one so bad she hacked up some blood; a very dangerous sign.

"So, we can take the emeralds and be on our way?" Sonic asked.

"Not quite" Presea coughed out, "I must ask for one last request."

"Eh?" Sonic blinked a bit.

"I want you to take her..." Presea coughed again, "Take my Alicia with you.."

"Why? She's your daughter." Sonic tried to argue, "It wouldn't be right."

"Please.." Presea coughed more blood out, "I'm not going to live for much longer.. I'm not going to be able to give her the care that I should have.. but you can, Fate.."

Fate had to almost pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, "kaa-san.. are you sure?"

"Yes.." the woman sighed with another groan of pain, "It was either you.. or the old fool of an echidna.. and I don't trust him with my Alicia..."

"But you'll trust us..." Sonic noted.

"Yes.. when Lord Ix came to me with the "peace offer" he told me about your group, when I heard him mention Fate, that's when I knew you'd come.." Presea sighed, "I never did realize how much I didn't give her until it was too late.."

"okay.. kaa-san. We'll take care of Alicia.." Fate agreed.

"Thank you.." the dying woman coughed again, "I'm sorry, Fate; for treating you like I did all those years ago... I'm not sure if you'll forgive me or not, but it's what I have to say."

"Fate-chan actually was pretty stubborn when it came to you.." Nanoha noted, "You weren't bad, you just went through a lot of emotional pain"

Sonic, a true snarker at heart, lightened the mood a bit with a quip, "Oh great.. two wives AND two daughters; it's official, my life is ruled by girls."

He earned a few playful jabs from Nanoha and an overly energetic tackle from Vivio, which made matters more comical because the tackle trapped the quippy hedgehog underneath the girl; because Vivio was in her Kaiser form and was almost as tall as her adoptive mother. Fate giggled a bit over the antics of her adopted daughter.

"We'll take care of Alicia, kaa-san" Fate assured Presea, "She'll having two loving mothers, a father and an energetic big sister." since she mentioned Vivio, she took the opportunity to make her own shot, "Assuming the big sister can get off my husband so we can leave."

Vivio smiled sheepishly as she released her fatherly figure of a hedgehog from her tackle-grip, "eh heh heh" were her giggles.

Sonic then stood up and brushed himself off, "Thanks, Fate... okay, if we're all done, can we get going?"

"Yeah.. we have to get back to the Cradle to plan out our next move." Nanoha noted.

Presea watched the group go back to the warship with the chaos emeralds and her revived daughter in the arms of who should have been her younger sister in Fate, but life isn't always easy, or as planned.

"My soldiers are more than ready to assist you if you wish to borrow them.." the woman coughed a bit more after she made that statement.

Before the engines were started, Fate rushed back outside to give Presea something that the woman hasn't had in over a decade; a hug. Initially, Presea Testarossa was shocked by the action, nevertheless she returned it in the same fashion; tears were shed on both sides as this moment would turn out to be the last these two would share with one another.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints]**

The warship took off from the Garden of Time and soared through the Twilight Cage, while the next destination was still being plotted out, Fate took the time to lay the young Alicia to rest in the bed in the room she shared with Vivio, Nanoha and Sonic.

"kaa-san.." Alicia talked in her sleep and fidgeted for a blanket.

Fate smiled a bit and placed a blanket on top of the sleeping child, gently to avoid disturbing her.

"_Sleep well.. Alicia.."_ Fate thought to herself as she dimmed the lights to allow the girl to continue her afternoon nap.

The yellow-haired enforcer gazed out of the window back at the Garden of Time and watch it disappear into the distance, _"Rest in peace... Presea Testarossa"_

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Emerl's karmic antics continue[**

Like before at the Church, the Gizoid played the role of Carim Gracia's cosplay enforcer in preparation for the upcoming cosplay event that was scheduled at the church.

"Carim-san wants you to wear this." he told a nearby church nun and handed her a maid outfit.

"Hee hee." the girl giggled as she took the outfit. Her target of laughter was again what the robot was forced to wear.

"_Another one laughs at me.."_ Emerl sighed as he looked down to the sailor fuku he had to wear, _"I suppose it's a price to pay for all the free peep shows..."_

A surprised male yell was heard in the distance, Emerl instantly knew the owner of that voice.

"_Vice got caught taking pictures again..."_ the robot deadpanned, _"I probably should have warned him that he was going into a trap, but damn it if I have to go through this embarrassment then so does he!"_

Meanwhile a smirking Carim stood in front of a net-trapped Vice, "You should have noticed what happened to Emerl.. now you're at our mercy."

And who says the Church of the Saints has no protection against peeping toms?

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 12]**

Author's Notes: Well another chapter down.. okay for some explanations.. Presea Testarossa, or Precia Testarossa, however the name's spelt, I went by the wiki; was the mother of Alicia Testarossa, the girl that Fate was the clone of during the first season of Nanoha.. I went with this arc to put a little reminder in about the events of the first season. The original series of Nanoha.. if any readers don't know about this reference, they can either ask me in message and I'll summarize, or watch the show.. now as to how Presea and the Garden of Time was in the Twilight Cage, much similar to how the other races got there. That's all I have to say on that one. Read and review, I always look for feedback to see on how I can improve.


	13. Record 13

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in the final part of the Nocturnus arc in Lyrical Record. I got some good reviews over how well I handled Precia Testarossa and the Garden of Time. A good resolution with also Alicia now going to be raised by who was originally going to be her younger sister a long time ago. Funny thing how destiny changes things. But enough of dwelling on the past, now it's time to focus on the present. With the current arc coming to a close, I'm planning on getting the next arc up and running soon; a little treat for the Nanoha fans, I'll be using the Mariage incident from the Sound Stages. I'm getting translations thanks to Triser. So I'll be able to put those to use as soon as I can get my brain rolling on how I'm going to play it out. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha or any characters related. Let's go back to this one.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[Cradle of the Saints]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

The powerful warship, the Saint's Cradle, laid idle in the space of the Twilight Cage; most of the members of the unit it played host to gathered around in the Throne Room to plan out their next move of action. Normally, Fate Harlaown-Takamachi would be in attendance of these meetings, but she hadn't left her shared room since she put the sleeping Alicia to bed.

"Sonic-kun.. can you call Fate-chan and ask her to come in?" Hayate requested, "I know how important Alicia is to her, but we still have to find the last two Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald and stop Lord Ix from conquering Mid-Childa."

"She'll be around soon, Hayate." Sonic assured her, "Just give her a little bit of time."

"The sooner we get out of this place the better.. She can have all the time she wants when we complete our mission and get out of here" Hayate argued back, "Nanoha-chan, help me out here.."

"Both of you are right.. Alicia-chan is very important to Fate-chan, but she can have more time when we get back.." Nanoha noted

"Good point there.." Sonic relented, "I'll call her.."

"Thank you." Hayate sighed.

* * *

**[Quarters of Vivio, Sonic, Nanoha and Fate]  
[BGM: "Yuna's Theme" Final Fantasy X OST]**

Fate sighed as she stroked softly the forehead of Alicia Testarossa. She, like the girl, both shared the same set of memories about their mother, Precia, and this moment brought back all those peaceful memories. As well as another memory she never thought she'd recall again. Flashbacks of the moments Fate shared with Alicia when the Book of Darkness absorbed her came back. Her current moment was almost similar, only without the presence of their mother Precia.

"_Alicia.. you're in my care now.." _Fate said in her thoughts, _"I may not be able to give you the care kaa-san did... but I'll do my best to care for you in her absense.."_

The child shifted under Fate's caring watch. Her eyes cracked open slowly to reveal her crimson red eyes. Upon the sight of Fate, Alicia opened her eyes wider and quickly sat up in surprise, confusion and nervousness.

"Konnichiwa, Alicia." Fate spoke softly.

"W-who are you?" Alicia asked, nerves taking over, "Why do you look like me? Where's kaa-san?"

Fate calmly soothed the young girl's nerves with a soft stoke of her head, "Easy... I'm Fate... Kaa-san asked me to take care of you..."

"Where is she?" Alicia asked again, still under the nerves "Where is kaa-san?"

"Kaa-san's.. not with us anymore.." Fate sighed, "Don't worry.. she asked me to take care of you..."

"She did? What happened to her? Why do you look alike to me?" the questions just kept coming from the confused Alicia

"Well.." Fate started, but found herself cut off by a call from her husband, "Excuse me.."

She accepted the call, putting Sonic's face in front of the two"Yes, Sonic-kun?"

"Hayate wants you in the Throne Room." Sonic noted, "Preferably within the next ten minutes."

"Okay. I'll be right there." Fate answered then ended the call as she started to stand up.

"Where are you going, um...Fate-san?" Alicia asked

"I've got work to do now." Fate smiled and stroked Alicia's hair, "I'll be back later, I promise."

"Okay..." Alicia laid back down and went back to sleep as she was still tired.

Fate smiled warmly as she left, making sure to turn off the lights before she closed the door to start her work.

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 13  
Citadel Showdown! Part 1: The Twilight Congress

* * *

**[The Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X OST]**

After a few minutes from her departure and seeing Alicia go to sleep, Fate returned to the Throne Room to join in on the conference to discuss the upcoming plans to deal with Nocturne Island.

"So, what do we know about the island?" Fate immediately went to the topic, "Can we just fly in now and land?"

"No" Shade declined, "Nocturne Island is protected by a large forcefield. Lord Ix had it built to be nearly impenetrable from outside attacks"

"We could use the Cradle's heavy weaponry and my magic to pierce it" Hayate offered.

"Not a chance; the island is also protected by routine scouting ships." Shade countered, "You'd be blasted on sight if you try that."

"Maybe if we can get all the other races in the Twilight Cage to work together?" Sonic offered.

"Good idea, Sonic-kun" Hayate gave the hedgehog some credit.

"Only problem" Shade noted, "The Zoah and N'rrgal will never work together."

"We don't have much of a choice" Sonic countered, "We can call up the other leaders and have them meet at the Kron Colony."

"Right.. Vivio-chan?" Hayate inquired.

"Haaai!" Vivio confirmed, "Vivio's calling the Kron first!"

After a few button presses, the Kron leader appeared on screen in the Throne Room, "Called have you the mighty Foreman Krag?" the foreman asked.

"We need your help" Hayate said, "We're about to try to invade Nocturne Island."

"Help I will to the best of my ability." Krag responded, "Provide I will a meeting place. Come you to my chamber when ready you are."

"Thank you, Krag-san.." Hayate thanked the Foreman as Vivio ended the call.

"Vivio's calling the N'rrgal and Zoah leaders" Vivio announced as she continued her communications set up.

"Make it quick" General Raxos sounded impatient.

"What do you nnneed?" The N'rrgal Queen sounded much more friendly, though that could be the slimy way that she spoke.

"We're going to attack Nocturne Island." Hayate informed the two, "If you want to help, meet us on the Kron Colony so we can plan out an attack."

"Foreman Krag was kind enough to set aside a meeting place." Fate added.

"Ha! You're either brave or suicidal. But I'll be there" the Zoah general laughed.

"We will attennnd..." the N'rrgal Queen confirmed her offer.

"Thank you very much" Hayate thanked the leaders as she signaled for Vivio to cut the feed.

"We're really going to do this?" Shade asked.

"We don't have any other choices" Knuckles confirmed, "The Master Emerald is there.. I need to get it back!"

"Let's go" Hayate ordered, "Vivio?"

"Vivio has the course set." Vivio confirmed.

In a matter of minutes, the massive warship reached its destination of the Kron Colony.

* * *

**[Kron Colony: Foreman Krag's Chambers]  
[BGM: "Inflexible Determination" Final Fantasy X OST]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Hayate, Fate and Shade stopped at the entrance to the Chambers of the Kron Foreman, a guard greeted them at said entrance.

"Expecting you is Foreman Krag" the guard noted.

"Did everyone arrive?" Sonic asked.

"Yes" the guard confirmed.

"And they are all acting civilly?" Fate asked.

"Heard we of no fights or riots yet.." the guard answered.

"Good!" Hayate smiled, "Let's go in."

"Follow you in. Begin will the Twilight Congress." The guard led the way inside.

Barely five seconds into the chambers and there was a rumbling noise heard from the distance and a few shouts.

"Hey! You said there weren't any fights" Fate turned to the guard.

"Said "Yet" I did" the guard shrugged.

"Ugh.. Okay.. let's go see what that's about." Hayate noted.

The group of five strolled through the corridors into the meeting chambers where General Raxos of the Zoah, Foreman Krag of the Kron and the N'rrgal Queen stood. Sure enough, the Zoah and N'rrgal leaders were getting after one another in an argument.

"Brrrm! Bicker you not over old rivalries! Not this the time for argument!" the Foreman attempted to calm down the leaders.

"Foreman! Why wasn't I told I'd be working with the N'rrgal in this conference? You tricked me!" the Zoah leader barked at the Kron.

"Donnn't put your annnger on the Kron, Zoah. Your problemmms are with usss." The N'rrgal Queen barked equally at the Zoah general.

"QUIET!" Hayate shouted, gathering all attention with her surprisingly loud voice, "Actually it was me that asked that all three of you meet up for this conference, so if you want someone to direct your anger, I'm your target." the brunette smirked as she allowed a rather large amount of her power to surface around her body in an aura, an ominous aura that ensured complete silence and stopped arguments.

"Good" Hayate folded her arms in satisfaction, "We're all here because we want Ix defeated. The only way we can do this is to take away his power source. The Master Emerald that he stole from our world. He also stole the Chaos Emeralds and gave each of you one and the so-called "Witch" two, we're not sure why, but we can guess it was as a peace offering; he still has the last two and the Master Emerald. If he uses that gem, I imagine he could possible enslave all of your people with it and destroy our own world too."

"Nocturne Island has a forcefield around it. We've tried for ages to get through it, but it's unbreakable." the Zoah General noted

"There has to be a way through it. If we all work together, then we can find a way." Fate spoke.

"If we could get up there, mmmy dronnnes could eat through the field. We could mmmake a hole big ennnough for a ship to pass through." The N'rrgal Queen offered.

"We've fired rockets at the Island before. They reached the field and blew up. Nothing could survive hitting that field." Raxos noted.

"Brrrm. Mine we an ore that deflects energy. Send we a ship made of such ore. Brmmm. Lodge it we could into the field until chew through it the N'rrgal can." the Kron leader noted.

"The problem is knowing where to hit the field. We'll have to hit a weak spot or we won't have enough time." Raxos spoke.

"That's where I come in." Hayate offered, "I've got plenty of range in all of my Bombardment spells. I can use that range to hit every spot on the field, when I get the weak point, I'll report my results to you guys."

"If our plan works, there would be a hole big enough for the Saints Cradle to fly through." Fate noted.

"I do have one question." Raxos asked, "Does your ship pilot feel confident enough to handle that flight?"

"Vivio-chan's young, but she's learning." Nanoha answered that question, "She's done great so far, much better than any of us could ask for. I'm sure she can handle it."

"Good." Hayate noted, "Now that that's settled, let's get going with the plan"

"My ships will be on standby." Raxos announced, "Give us the signal when you get that weak spot and we'll hit it."

"Will do." Hayate bowed, "Come on everyone, we've got a plan, let's get to work."

With that, the group returned to their ship and launched off to initiate their part of the plan.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints]  
[BGM: "Launch" FFX OST]**

"Okay, everyone." Hayate spoke once the ship was in flight and en route for Nocturne Island, "I'm heading out there to find a weak spot on the island."

"Will you be okay out there?" Shade asked.

"Yes, I'm going to be grounded on the exterior of the ship." Hayate noted, "And I'll have Reinforce Zwei with me to help my aim of spells."

"You have trouble aiming?" Shade asked.

"That's the cost of having so much power." Hayate noted, "All of my spells have the power to wipe out just about anything they can hit, but I can't aim so well.. and that's what I rely on Rein's help for."

"I understand.." the echidna sighed.

"Okay.. I'm heading out." Hayate shifted to her Knight Clothing, "Reinforce Zwei?"

"Hai!" the small Unison Device floated to her mistress's side and followed her out.

* * *

**[Exterior]**

Hayate stood on top of one of the wings of the warship with her staff in hand and a white belkan triangle at her feet.

"Reinforce Zwei?" the brunette asked.

"Hai!" Rein answered. "Unison in!"

Hayate and Rein unisoned, and after a flash of light, Hayate appeared, mostly unchanged except for her now platinum-blonde hair.

"Vivio-chan?" the unisoned Hayate asked, could you inform the other races that I'm beginning phase one?"

"Already done, Hayate-oba-chan." Vivio's voice answered back.

"Good.." the brunette opened her tome and held her staff high for her spell. She spoke the aria chant for her spell, "Come forth, the wind of snow, and become the fletching which falls from the heavens." as she spoke a large white sigil appeared in front of her and around it spawned four smaller ones that began to charge up power.

"Hræsvelgr!" Hayate shouted once the charge was complete. From the small sigils unleashed a wave of powerful beam, one from each sigil. The beams, with all the range the mage boasted, impacted the forcefield with such power.

One of the beams hit a small crack on the higher areas of the field and widened the crack a little bit until it was automatically sealed up.

"That's it!" Hayate noted and quickly withdrew back into the ship before she could get hit by any of the Nocturnus ships.

* * *

**[Throne Room]**

"Vivio-chan, inform the others that the weak point of the forcefield is on the upper areas, send them the coordinate of where my spell bolt hit the cracks."

"Got it!" Vivio acknowledged and brought up communication feeds for the other races, "Saint's Cradle to Zoah aerial squad commander."

"Zoah Squad commander reporting in." a Zoah pilot took the call.

"Weak spot of the forcefield has been found. Vivio's sending the coordinates of the spot." Vivio sent the coordinates through her message and feed.

"Confirmed reception," the Zoah pilot announced, "Phase two initiating. We're going to need some cover from the Nocturnus ships."

"Don't worry, Vivio will handle it." the young girl spoke bravely.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage]  
[BGM: "Assault" FFX OST]**

Under the powerful cover fire provided by Vivio through the Saint's Cradle, a fleet of Zoah ships flew towards the coordinates given to them from the young girl. The ships fired missiles containing the ore mined from the Kron, that also served as transport for the N'rrgal.

The missiles and ore made contact on the weak point and the N'rrgal started to suck the energy from the crack of the forcefield; the crack opened wider until it became a huge hole that was definitely big enough for the Cradle to fit through if the ship hustled.

The warship, through Vivio's command, kicked in it's afterburners and made an all-or-nothing charge for that hole in the forcefield. Time was running out, but at the speed the ship was moving, it would make it into the field in-time.

**[Throne Room]**

"Come on Vivio" Sonic cheered for his adoptive daughter, "You can do it."

"Vivio's doing her best!" Vivio said as she put all the effort she had into increasing the speed of her ship.

Vibrations were felt and alarms sounded as the ship rushed through the open hole of the forcefield. Sure enough, the Cradle cleared the open hole of the forcefield.

"We're in!" Vivio announced.

"Good!" Hayate congratulated, "Now get us a place to land"

"Hai!" Vivio acknowledged as she slowed the ship down to a landing speed.

The warship landed on a point just on the edges of the main island and quickly powered down.

-To Be Continued-

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Church Hijinks: Vice's Punishment]**

Poor Vice Grascenic, he was caught taking pictures of the Church girls in their underwear, his karma struck him hard from the punishment enforced by Carim Gracia. His pictures were confiscated and burned. Not only that, his camera was also confiscated. To put it simply, Vice was screwed.

"Why was I so reckless.." Vice sighed.

"Hey..." his robotic companion, Emerl, poked him, "I feel your pain."

"I suppose this is the price we pay for our lecherous acts." Vice said as he and Emerl were forced to wear maid outfits by Carim, "But.. you know what?"

"It was SO WORTH IT!" the duo announced at the same time.

"Excuse me?" Carim's voice was heard a few meters away, "Did I hear something?"

"NO!" Came the instant response.

Vice and Emerl.. Perverts? Yes! Idiots? No!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 13]**

Author's Notes: I was originally planning on combining the two parts, but then the thought came to me to split the parts up and leave a cliffy to build up suspense! Aren't I evil?


	14. Record 14

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in part 2 of the finale to the Nocturnus arc of Lyrical Record. And with the end of one arc in mind, I'm still in planning for implementing the Sound Stages and the Mariage into the story. And this will get more interesting from here on out.. especially with Sonic's family situation.. 2 wives and 2 daughters, he's the only guy.. now that's funny.. Well... on that note we'll get under way.

* * *

**[Twilight Cage: Nocturne Island]  
[Cradle of the Saints: docked]  
[Interior]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

Shortly after the Cradle landed, Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Knuckles, Shade and Shadow were visited by Vivio before they disembarked.

"Vivio." Fate requested, "I want you to go to our room and watch Alicia. She's going to be your new imouto when we return home."

"Hai!" the young kaiser acknowledged.

"If she wakes up, talk to her, make friends with her." Fate asked.

"And not in the way Nanoha-mama does it." Sonic took an easy opportunity for a verbal jab.

"Mou.. Sonic-kun!" the mentioned brunette pouted cutely.

The blue hedgehog let out a few chuckles over his joke, he wasn't alone as Fate also found the jab humorous; mostly because she was one of the few friends that Nanoha "made" in the way that Sonic joked about.

**[No BGM]**

Within no time the party disembarked and looked around at the scenery of the dark island.

"Things have changed since I was last here.." Shade observed.

"That will make things diffi- what the?!" Sonic was interrupted by a massive shaking of the ground.

"Lord Ix is using the power of the Master Emerald to move the island toward the wormhole!" the former procurator explained.

"We can't let that island enter Mid-Childa!" Fate's tone was serious, "We have to stop him here!"

"Okay then." Sonic readied himself, "Let's get going!"

A voice, mechanical and unknown to all, laughed maniacally, "I don't think so! Hee hee hee hee!"

From the distance dropped two Gizoids, one blue and one red respectively, the color of their horns were lighter than the bodies. In addition to the colors, there were other distinctions; the light-blue gizoid had a shark's fin coming from the top of its forehead and its horns bore a trident pattern.

The red Gizoid spoke, "The mighty Lord Ix has set his plan into motion! Your world will quiver in fear! Hee hee hee hee!"

"And you, Shade, princess of traitors." The blue one added, "Don't think Lord Ix has forgotten you."

"Come face us! If you dare! Hee hee hee hee!" The red one taunted as they both went their separate ways.

"Ugh.. that red one's laugh was annoying!" Sonic huffed in annoyance.

"Scylla and Charyb: the twin prefects of the Nocturnus Army. I'm willing to bet that they have the last two Chaos Emeralds." Shade explained, "If we can get the Chaos Emeralds from them, we should be able to stop the island before it reaches the wormhole."

"We'll split up from here." Shadow offered.

"If we're going to do that, then let's bring out one more person each from the Cradle." Fate answered.

"Good idea." Sonic noted, "My group will be myself, Nanoha, Fate and their choice of the additional."

"That leaves myself, Knuckles and Shade." Shadow noted, "I think I know just who to get for my team: Nove."

"Same here." Nanoha noted, "We'll bring Teana, she can help me out with the shooting and this will be a good learning experience for her."

"So we're all settled?" Sonic asked.

"Hai!" came the unanimous reply.

Nove and Teana were brought out from the Cradle and they each joined their respective teams. The five Chaos Emeralds were split up. Sonic's team took the red, green and blue gems while Knuckles' took the silver and yellow gems.

"Let's go!" the hedgehog announced.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 14  
Citadel Showdown Part 2; Face-off against Ix! Stop Nocturne Island!

* * *

**[Twilight Cage: Nocturne Island]  
[BGM: "An Undocumented Battle" Dissidia: Final Fantasy Duodecim]**

**[POV: Lightning Team (Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Teana)]**

The pursuit of the light-blue gizoid prefect known as Charyb did not come without challenges. The Nocturnus Clan was already well clued into the task the mages had, and they did everything they could to bar the path to their prefect.

The team itself organized themselves in a very tactical manner; Sonic and Fate teamed up to engage the foes in close quarters combat while Nanoha and Teana double-teamed for the aerial Decurion units of the Nocturnus Clan

With Sonic's speed and spin-dash, as well as Fate's Zanber-formed Bardiche; the term "Battle Couple" would fit these two well, and they displayed a certain finesse in their coordination. The duo found themselves back-to-back with one another, but they didn't mind; in fact their positions were very useful. After the duo shared a boost of mana, they launched off one another in a powerful momentum-boosted leap and used that momentum to translate into their powerful physical combat. The ground-based Praetorians of the Clan found themselves highly overpowered and at the mercy of the powerful yet finesse couple.

Nanoha and Teana, one an instructor with over a decade worth of experience in shooting magic, the other an Enforcer-in-training with not even half that amount, made for a powerful duo in their own right. Like Fate and Sonic, they two started their attacks on the aerial units with their backs against one another and still were able to pull off their powerful combinations. Nanoha's Axel Shooter, fired at random intervals, combined with Teana's unpredictable Crossfire Shoot, made trouble for the Decurions. Not only did they have to try to dodge the light show out to blast them, but also each shot wave was fired at random intervals, that made it hard to predict when their foe would fire.

As the team progressed through their area in the pursuit of Prefect Charyb, they also had the task of disabling the force-field so not only could they get out, but the Zoah fighters can come in and take out the defense turrets. Sure enough, the console of the force-field generator was close to their location. Fate's skills in hacking did the job and alarms rang out to signal the disabling of the force-field.

With nothing else to distract them, the team advanced again in their pursuit, within a few minutes they found an entrance to Charyb's hideout.

* * *

**[Charyb's Lair]**

Through a long and winding corridor they went and at the edge was a large circle that kinda resembled an arena. The circle held a small pond which the water level just reached the tips of Sonic's shoes. All in all, it was a huge puddle made into an arena.

The gizoid prefect waited for them confidently as he stood with his arms folded, "About time you showed up"

"You were waiting?" Sonic asked in annoyance.

"Of course!" the prefect laughed, "I wanted the pleasure of taking you out myself."

"So sorry to deny you that" Fate spoke as her teammates readied themselves for a battle.

"Ah, to the point. Fair enough" Charyb held his blade in a stance, "Bring it!"

* * *

**[Elsewhere on the Island]  
[POV: Flame Team (Knuckles, Shade, Nove, Shadow)]**

While the Lightning team blazed through their pursuit, the Flame team earned the same courtesy through their own display of power. Despite most of his comrades favoring close-range melee combat, Shadow provided all the support they could need against the aerial Decurions.

It did not take too long for them to encounter Scylla. In fact, the gizoid prefect gave them a bit of a surprise when he hopped down from his vantage point ready to ambush them.

"I haven't beaten on an echidna in ages." Scylla snickered, "So I'll take great pleasure in taking out the two of you."

"Good luck with that" Knuckles pounded his fists together as his comrades readied themselves to fight the Gizoid Prefect.

**[BGM: "Blinded by Light" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

Scylla took no hesitation and with his blade, rushed for a long, horizontal and sweeping blow that could have hit all four of his foes, but his effort was wasted as the team displayed a great amount of agility and reflexes in their dodging of the strike.

Shadow struck first with a low-power, but nasty and unavoidable spin-dash that took the prefect off-balance and guard. The ebony hedgehog then followed up his own set-up attack with a volley of Chaos Spears, their power added up and sent the gizoid into a stagger that set him up for more beating.

Knuckles wasted no time in the initiative he was given by his ebony comrade. His fists ready, he delivered a volley of powerful punches to the robot's gut. The punches packed some major power, especially since they kept hitting the same spot and added on. The combo ended when the echidna delivered a powerful uppercut.

Staggered and taken aback, the gizoid fell victim then to Shade's leech-blade strikes. The "traitor" did not relent, and yet, her strikes were very fluid and clean, which could only add to the pain she inflicted. Her blades also sapped the energy from her foe with each time she made contact. She leapt back after the gizoid was left in a dizzy-state.

Nove was merciless and aggressive in her assault. The cyborg used not only her Strike Arts melee with her Gun Knuckle and roller blades to add on her power, she also took the opportunities she had to score point-blank shots with her Gun Knuckle. Scylla was almost literally tossed aside from the power that beat him down. When Nove was finished, only scraps of the former prefect were left.

The beaten-down gizoid prefect dropped the purplish-pink Chaos Emerald in his wake. Knuckles picked it up, "That's one of them.. Charyb's probably got the other one."

"While the others pursue Charyb and his emerald, let's confront Lord Ix." Shade noted, "We have to stop him"

"Ready, Nove?" Shadow asked.

"Definitely" Nove smirked, "I've been stuck in the ship for awhile, it's great to stretch out."

"Good.." the ebony hedgehog took the lead, "Let's go."

* * *

**[Charyb's Lair]  
[POV: Lighting Team]  
[BGM: "Blinded by Light" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

Much like his fellow Prefect, Scylla was quick to make the first attack; water was his element of choice as he sent a flurry of geysers for the quad of mages. Much like before, the attack was easily avoided through a show of agility that took the gizoid off guard in surprise.

Fate displayed quite a show of power and speed with her use of her greatsword-device. She made a powerful downward slash that left no chance for her foe to dodge. The strike left a large, diagonal gash in his armor. The yellow-head backed off to allow her comrades to do their damage.

Sonic took the next strike with a flurry of spin-dash blows. Following each blow was a combo of fist-thrusts and kicks that showed his speed quite well. Sonic ended his attack with a sweep of a breakdance kick that sent the gizoid into the wall.

Nanoha and Teana double-teamed to shoot down the robot while he was still in the wall. Pink and orange blasts engulfed the gizoid and piled on to the already exposed weak points into the armor.

The gizoid was given no mercy as all that was left from Teana and Nanoha's combined blast flurry were scraps and the light-blue Chaos Emerald.

"Okay.. we got the Emerald." Sonic noted, "Let's go meet up with the Flame team and end Ix's reign."

"Right!" the others agreed.

Both teams took to pursuit in their own paths for the chambers of Lord Ix, leader of the Nocturnus.

* * *

**[Cradle of the Saints: Quarters of Vivio, Fate, Nanoha and Sonic]  
[BGM: "Yuna's Theme" FFX OST]**

Vivio sat by the side of the slumbering Alicia. While the young Kaiser was a bit disappointed that she couldn't help her parents fight, she was more than happy to spend time with her future younger sibling.

Alicia yawned and woke up from her nap, sure enough, her crimson eyes met the heterochromatic ones of Vivio.

"Konnichiwa!" Vivio beamed in excitement.

"W-who are you?" Alicia asked, initially shy in the meeting of Vivio, despite the two being around the same age.

"Vivio" the young girl smiled with overflowing energy.

"Nice to meet you.. Vivio." Alicia built the courage to stand, seeing the girl was friendly, "I'm Alicia."

"Fate-mama told Vivio to be friends with you." Vivio explained, "So here is Vivio."

"Okay." Alicia agreed, "So what do you want to do?"

"Play!" Vivio held up her stuffed rabbit, the very same one that Nanoha gave her when they met, "We'll be spending a lot of time together soon."

"Okay!" Alicia agreed and the two played together.

* * *

**[Nocturne Island: Ix's Chamber]  
[BGM: "An Undocumented Battle" Dissidia: Final Fantasy 012 Duodecim]**

The Flame team made it to the entrance to the Imperator's chambers, but were forcibly teleported inside where the ruler sat on his throne.

"Welcome to my chambers" The aging echidna spoke, "You've come a long way"

"We've got all the Emeralds, Ix. There's nothing more you can do" Knuckles spoke, "You're done!"

"Then have a seat." Ix requested, "I'm not going anywhere. Let's talk while we can."

The team of four opted to stand instead, with not much else to do but wait. From the shadows, four dark figures were seen by Shadow.

The ebony hedgehog gave a slight nod and a few arm motions that to the echidna imperator seemed like nervous twitches.

The four figures turned out to be Sonic and the other team. Fate understood the motions and ordered her team to standby for the moment.

Ix explained his story in full, "4000 years ago. Nocturne Island was a paradise. We believed in sciends and industry, and we flourished. With our prototype Gizoids, we forced our rivals, the clan of mighty Pachacamac to its doom. But our victory was short-lived, a dark force wrenched us from our home, imprisoning us in this nightmare dimension. I was the only one to remember how times were before. With my magic and technology, I prolonged my life as long as I can, and watched the newer generation. Like you, Shade, grow and develop into our forces to protect ourselves from the other races in the dimension."

"So the Kron, N'rrgal and Zoah?" Knuckles asked.

"I managed to unite them all under my leadership with the promise that one day, we would all be free." Ix answered.

"And the rumors about the Witch?" Shade asked.

"All true..." Ix sighed, "Try as hard as I could, nothing I had could defeat her, and I found myself at her mercy each time. She forced me to leave her dimension. Enough about that, Knuckles.."

"What?" the red echidna asked.

"For a long time, you've lived under the notion that you were the last of your kind, but I can bring them all back." Ix offered, "I have the best intentions to reunite you with all of our kind. Join us! Join me and free your people from imprisonment!"

Knuckles took all of, well about two seconds to give his answer, "No!"

"What?!" Ix was surprised.

"You stole the Master Emerald." Knuckles spoke, "Maybe you forgot, but that emerald has a guardian! I may have been wrong in the thought that I was the last of my kind, but I made a vow to protect the Master Emerald from people like you."

"So you've made your choice.." the imperator sighed.

"I have.." Knuckles nodded.

"And you have chosen death." Ix readied his scepter, "So be it.."

"Not if we have a say in that matter." Shadow made a few hand signals with a smirk.

The overhead window broke and down came Sonic and the Lightning team.

"What?!" The imperator as surprised, "How?!"

"You're done, Ix!" Sonic declared, "Let's get Round Two started!"

* * *

**[BGM: "Cantata Mortis" Dissidia: Final Fantasy 012 Duodecim]**

Lighting was shot from Ix's scepter as he tried to electocute his foes, but even with the more targets to hit, the attack still was avoided as the mages dodged quickly.

Sonic and Fate rushed in for a team combination attack that started with Sonic's set-up Spin-dash that hit the side of the throne and spun it around. Fate followed her husband's attack with a sweeping strike of her Zanber-form Bardiche, the strike sent the throne, with Ix still in it, rolling to a nearby wall where Sonic drove it in deeper.

Shadow and Nove combined for their own attack that was set-up similarly with Shadow's spin-dash. Nove followed it up with her Gun Knuckle shots and a powerful kick that swept the old echidna to the ground. Shadow ended his team combination with a volley of Chaos Spears and his spin-dash, which was given an extra boost of momentum thanks to Nove's powerful kick.

Shade and Knuckles double-teamed and pummeled the throne and Ix with their physical attacks. Knuckles' fist thrust volley impacted the back of the throne hard while Shade attacked Ix with her leech-blade, which kept the aging imperator unable to do much.

Nanoha and Teana brought up the finishing blows to defeat Ix and demolish his throne, their spells unable to be avoided.

**[No BGM]**

Ix did not give up just yet, "I'm not done... This may kill me.. but I don't care.. I'll take you all out with this!"

"Now what?" Sonic asked.

"I call out the power of Nocturne! I sacrifice the rest of my life.. Give me the strength to crush my foes!" Ix's body started to glow and a flash of light emitted. When it expired, the Imperator's body bore a yellow aura and his fur glowed violently.

"Ha!" Ix laughed maniacally, "Let's see you stop me now!"

"Great.. he powered up.." Shadow snapped his fingers.

"Heh heh.. no problem" Sonic smirked, "If he's going to give himself a power boost, then I'll do the same.. with the Chaos Emeralds, Nanoha? You with me on this?"

"With pleasure, Sonic-kun!" Nanoha smiled in response.

The Seven Chaos Emeralds surrounded both hedgehog and human as they both absorbed their powers, their bodies glowed as another flash of light resulted. Both figures had drastic changes: Sonic's fur turned golden-yellow and his eyes a crimson red and his quills stood on end. Nanoha had a drastic change from the emeralds. Her eyes turned crimson red and her hair a platinum silver. The whites of her outfit turned pink and the blues a golden yellow. As part of her transformation, her hair grew even longer, enough so that it broke free of the hair ties, allowing it to flow, while her body was enhanced, particularly her bust grew in size a bit. Raising Heart did not change from Nanoha's transformation. Super Nanoha allowed herself to be engulfed in a flaming pink aura. Super Sonic and Super Nanoha stood ready for action.

"Ready Nanoha?" Super Sonic asked.

"Yup!" Nanoha agreed.

* * *

**[BGM: "God in Fire" Dissidia: Final Fantasy 012 Duodecim]**

Imperator Ix put all of his power into one massive orb of energy and threw it at the duo. It was all or nothing for him. Nanoha and Sonic, their powers and speed boosted by the Chaos Emeralds, flew to avoid the orb. The attack left the aging echidna off guard and too weak to do anything.

Auras engulfed both Super-powered mages, and as Nanoha held her device up high and barraged the echidna with Axel Shooter bolts, Sonic followed the attack with a powerful spin-dash combination. The golden-yellow hedgehog took a powerful. With each attack, Sonic's power added on and he did not relent.

Sonic flew to the side of his wife and held his hand out while Nanoha did the same with her device. Orbs glowed at the tips as they both cried out "Divine... Buster!" and combined for a powerful blast spell that engulfed the Imperator and sent him to the wall.

**[No BGM]**

Imperator Ix, even at the inch of his life folded his arms with the same attitude, "You may have defeated me.. but if I can't escape this nightmare prison. Then you won't either! Ha ha ha ha ha!" he laughed as he warped out of sight.

"He activated the wormhole shutdown sequence." Shade explained, "It will close in about five minutes!"

"We can't stop it.." Sonic said, reverting to his normal form, "Thankfully our ride's here."

"Knuckles!" Fate ordered, "Take the Master Emerald and let's go!"

"Right!" Knuckles was quick to grab the Emerald.

With the Master Emerald secured, both teams made a quick sprint to the Saint's Cradle.

* * *

**[Saint's Cradle: Throne Room]**

Vivio was already sitting on her throne when the groups arrived, Hayate had called her to get the ship started. She also brought Alicia with her.

"We need to get out of here before that wormhole closes" Sonic spoke very hastily.

"Vivio's working on it" the young kaiser operated the ship to take off, "Don't worry, Sonic-papa."

Alicia approached the trio of Sonic, Nanoha and Fate who she already recognized, "Hi.." she spoke softly.

"Oh, you're awake?" Sonic locked eyes with the young girl, he didn't need to kneel since Alicia was just at his height.

"Yeah.." Alicia kept a shy attitude since she didn't know the hedgehog yet.

"Well, I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog," Sonic stroked the young girl's hair, "Nice to meet you, Alicia."

"I'm Nanoha." Nanoha kneeled down to join her husband in greeting the young Alicia, "Nice to meet you."

Alicia, seeing the friendliness coming from the duo, smiled softly, "Hi."

"We've got some work to do, but when we get back home, we can spend a lot of time together." Sonic announced, "Vivio, you, me, Nanoha and Fate. We're going to have a lot of fun."

"Hai.." Alicia agreed.

The Saint's Cradle, with all the speed it could get, cleared the wormhole just before it closed.

* * *

**[Mid-Childa]**

The warship exited the Cradle to a peaceful night sky of an environment, all was quiet, and the ship made landing at the Church.

**[The Saint Church]**

With Hayate giving her report to Carim and Chrono; Sonic, Nanoha and Fate were allowed to take Alicia and Vivio and sleep at the church for the night. The quarters they were given held two beds; one that Fate laid the sleeping Alicia in, and the other was for the parents. Vivio opted to sleep with her soon-to-be sibling.

The night ended peacefully as the others lodged at the church until tomorrow.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Prelude to cosplay event: Hayate and Carim meet up]**

Hayate met with Carim Gracia to discuss what she missed while she was gone.

"Looks like you've been preparing." Hayate observed, noting the notebook that Carim had open and full of writing.

"Yeah, we caught Emerl and Vice peeping on some of the girls, so we punished them by forcing them to wear embarrassing outfits, You?" the head knight asked.

"Well I've been doing the same." Hayate answered, "You have no idea how helpful Vivio-chan can be in convincing her parents to cosplay without injuring me."

"Oh?" this caught Carim's interest.

"Yes." a smirk found itself on Hayate's face, "and soon she'll be converted!"

"So, you ready for the event?" Carim asked.

"Definitely..." the smirk grew wider, "Most definitely."

Oh dear... To Be Continued!

**[Ending: Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 14]**

Author's Notes: And the end of an arc marks the beginning of another. I'll get working on it soon after a slight Slice-of-life phase for Alicia.


	15. Record 15

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in the aftermath chapter to the ending of the Nocturnus Arc. I noticed one of the reviews pointed out. One of those being that I missed a few things during the raid on Nocturne Island from Sonic Chronicles and a few details I didn't take into effect yet. Some of those were half-intentional misses, others not so much. I played that game too, and I did leave out a few things, such as Knuckles' group taking on a bunch of invincible gizoids and having Sonic's group disable that invincibility, and the second things was when Sonic's team went into Charyb's Lair, originally in the game, the guy flooded his lair with water, these were both half-intentional misses, I'm not going to really lose sleep over them because I didn't want to put them in the first place and wanted to move along. For the not-so-muchs, I kinda didn't take into effect of Precia giving the group her robots, I'll get to that in this update. And in the last chapter I used super nanoha, but I kinda caught myself copying off my own story, the prequel before that.. hee hee.. that was me trying to save time and didn't work out.. for the record, Nanoha's bust did not change again, the first time it was enhanced in her super form, that lingered and became permanent, so yeah set that one aside.. whee.. addressing notes done, let's get underway with this chapter.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa]  
[Saint Church]  
[BGM: "Chiisana Negai" Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's]**

After their return home from the Twilight Cage, the crew stationed on the Saint's Cradle were allowed to rest for the night and report their findings the next day.

In one particular room used for lodging, a cute scene unfolded. Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Takamachi-Harlaown cuddled in the same bed as their beloved hedgehog; one girl for each arm. The trio slept peacefully.

In the other bed were Vivio and Alicia, both clad in matching white pajamas and sleeping just as peacefully.

The trio of parents woke up first. Sonic stretched his arms after they were freed from the cuddle-clutches of his wives. Nanoha and Fate did just about the same thing.

"Morning Nanoha and Fate" Sonic yawned a bit.

"Good Morning, Sonic-kun." Nanoha greeted back.

"We've got to report in today." Fate reminded them.

"Can't that wait until we get Vivio and Alicia up?" Sonic asked.

Speaking of the duo, two soft yawns were heard as they woke up with a stretch. Alicia looked around as if in a bit of confusion.

"Huh?" the girl blinked but sighed after a small mental flashback of before, "oh.. that's right.. I'll be living with you guys.."

"That's right, Alicia" Fate confirmed, "We'll get the papers done to adopt you after we finish our report."

"In the meantime." Sonic offered, "Let's all go have some breakfast; Vivio, after that can you show Alicia around the church? We'll catch up to you later after we report."

"Okay, Sonic-papa." Vivio smiled.

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 15  
Aftermaths on Mid-Childa; a new family for Alicia

* * *

**[The Saint Church]  
[BGM: "Apotos Day Hub" Sonic Unleashed]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Fate, Vivio and Alicia each grabbed their choice of breakfast meals from a cafeteria area in the church and shared a table together. The hedgehog's meal consisted of sausage, eggs and a cup of warm coffee that was only lightly sweetened. Nanoha and Fate picked their meal of bacon and eggs, but instead of coffee, they opted for tea. Both Vivio and Alicia got the church's edition of "Kid's meals" which were cutely decorated pancakes, bacon, and they each got small juice boxes.

The scene of the family eating together unfolded quite cutely in the eyes of the onlookers, especially Hayate, Signum, Vita, Shamal, Reinforce Zwei and Zafira, who took the table nearest to the "family".

Hayate couldn't resist a small jab at the only male at that table, "Awe, Sonic-kun, look at you. Surrounded by cute girls. You lucky hedgehog."

"Good morning to you too, Hayate." Sonic greeted from his spot at the table.

"The church is going to run a few members to unload the Cradle's extra cargo." The commander started, "We'll return the Master Emerald to Angel Island as well."

"We've still got our reports to give to Admiral Chrono and Carim-san." Fate added.

"I know that, Fate." Hayate sighed, "I just wanted to have at least a few minutes of "not work".."

"We'll get that after we report." Sonic noted.

"Yeah, Sonic-kun, weren't you three going to get that adoption for Alicia set up?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah." Nanoha confirmed.

"Well.." Hayate finished eating and stood up, "The sooner the better"

"Right." Sonic, Nanoha and Fate followed suit. The hedgehog turned back to Vivio, "Go show Alicia around, we'll be back in a while."

"Hai, Sonic-papa!" Vivio saluted cutely, "You can count on Vivio!"

"I'm sure we can." Nanoha giggled as she lightly patted the young kaiser's head before leaving with Sonic, Hayate and Fate to Carim's office.

* * *

**[Carim Gracia's Office]  
[BGM: "Between Ordeals" Final Fantasy X OST]**

The head knight of the Saint Church and the Admiral who authorized the creation of the unit were already in the office. The curtains were open and provided a good view of the Cradle, where the supplies and cargo were being unloaded.

"Welcome back." Chrono greeted the four, "I can assume the mission was a success."

"You can assume right oh great Admiral." Sonic bowed in a mock-joke tone.

"Very funny.." Admiral Chrono deadpanned. Another glance out the window gave him a bit of a surprise, part of the "cargo" included the mechs that the unit acquired from Precia Testarossa. The robots brought a sense of familiarity to him, "Wait.. weren't those the machines.."

"Hai" Fate confirmed, "They were from the Garden of Time. Kaa-san gave them to use for use."

"You saw Precia Testarossa in there?!" Chrono's mouth gaped in surprise, "I thought she was dead."

"Evidently, she got better.." Sonic shrugged, "Well somewhat.. somehow she delayed her death until she revived her daughter, who by the way we're going to adopt."

"Wait. She brought her original daughter back to life?" The admiral was stunned, "How?"

"Ix, the leader of the Nocturnus Clan, gave her the 7 Chaos Emeralds to revive her as a peace offering," Fate explained, "He took five and gave her two to keep for incentives to keep out of the way in his plans."

"Yet she repays his "peace offer" by giving you her daughter?" Chrono asked.

"She'd rather have me raise Alicia instead of giving her to Ix..." Fate sighed, "I understand what she wanted."

"Fair enough," the admiral sighed and sent a smirk to the blue hedgehog, "Looks like you got another kid to take care of."

Sonic gave Admiral Harlaown a silent stare, one that almost looked like he was glaring at him. Chrono didn't mind it much, he was able to shrug it off with a couple of chuckles.

Carim sighed, "With that aside, is there anything else you have to report?"

"Yes." Hayate confirmed, "Shade, the Procurator who was in charge of her people attacking Angel Island for the Master Emerald, has agreed to turn herself in after she assisted us in the Twilight Cage."

"I assume the Bureau should begin to question her about a trial?" Chrono asked.

"If we could skip that..." Fate requested, "She is willing to atone for her deeds, and her aid in this mission was outstanding, I am not sure where we could have gotten without her."

"I'm sure the Bureau will take her cooperation in mind." The admiral assured, "Of course we'll also take into effect the "high praise" from one of the Bureau's top enforcers." a slight smirk found itself on Chorno's face.

"Onii-chan.." Fate sighed.

"Anything about the inhabitants of this "Twilight Cage"?" Carim asked.

"Yeah, a whole bunch of weird characters." Sonic summarized, "Some rocky guys who talk funny, high-tech soldiers with a fighting addiction, and a slimey race that really slurs their words."

"I hope you didn't say any of that in front of those races.." the head knight noted.

"Oh we had some fun with that one." Sonic snickered, "Right, Nanoha a.k.a "She who don't listen well"?"

"Mou.. Sonic-kun!" Nanoha pouted cutely, "You heard them, they did talk weird."

"Yeah, but I didn't ask them that in front of their faces, now did I?" the hedgehog countered.

"Moving on..." Chrono cleared his throat, "If I understand correct, all that's left is returning the Master Emerald and dealing with Shade?"

"Yes, as far as the mission is concerned." Hayate confirmed, "On another note, I believe it should be appropriate for our unit to have some time off to adjust? Mainly with Alicia going to be adopted, she'll need some time spent with Sonic, Nanoha and Fate, who are going to be her parents, they'll need some time off to get to know and get used to each other."

"They're part of your unit, Hayate" Carim giggled. "You can decide if they take the time off, I recommend it, but that's just me. It's your choice."

"Oh yeah" the brunette giggled in her embarrassing moment, "Right.."

"On another topic." The knight started again, "How are the Combat Cyborgs adjusting? Any incidents while deployed?"

"None, they were all behaved." Hayate answered. "I was surprised by the fact that there were no incidents."

"Good, Genya and Quint will be pleased to hear that." Carim smiled, "Now then, will that be all?"

"Hai. Carim-san." all four saluted the woman.

"Good, dismissed!" The head knight of the Saint Church stood up.

"Hai!" the four left the office after a quick salute of acknowledgment.

**[Hallway]**

After splitting up from Hayate; Sonic, Nanoha and Fate met back up with Vivio and Alicia to discuss the plans for the rest of the day.

"Well, we've been dismissed fro the rest of the day, so how's about we head home and relax?" Sonic offered, "Fate can get the adoption papers stated from there with a request."

"And I can get lunch together." Nanoha noted after a brief glance at her watch on her right wrist.

"Would you like that, Alicia?" Fate asked.

"Hai..." the girl spoke softly, only to blush cutely in embarrassment when her stomach rumbled

"Yup, she's hungry alright!" Sonic snickered in his amusement, "Let's get going."

The family of five took Fate's car back to their house.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence (Mid-Childa)]**

The house that held this family was a relatively medium-sized home with a few bedrooms, including a master bedroom of course, a big kitchen for Nanoha, Fate and Sonic to easily cook all their meals from. To the indulgence of Sonic, Nanoha, Vivio and secretly Fate, a big screen TV was set up with several game systems ranging from SEGA Genesis to Dreamcast.

As Nanoha fixed up lunch for everyone with the help of Vivio, Sonic and Fate showed Alicia around. The first room they came to was Vivio's room.

"This room belongs to Vivio." Sonic noted, "You'll be sleeping with her until we get a room for you set up."

"You can also borrow any clothing from her until we get your own." Fate added.

"Okay." Alicia nodded in understanding.

The next room and final stop of the "tour" was the master bedroom.

"This room belongs to me, Sonic and Nanoha." Fate explained, "If you get scared or have any bad dreams you can come to us for comfort."

"Just please knock on the door first." Sonic requested.

"Eh?" Alicia blinked, "Why?"

"Ask Vivio" came the quick reply from both Sonic and Fate, both while wearing blushes.

"uh, okay.." The young girl wasn't so sure what to say on that one.

"Lunch!" Nanoha called to them, "Come and get it"

"Oh boy! You're going to love this." Sonic noted in excitement, "Nanoha is one of the best at cooking."

Sonic, Fate and Alicia grabbed their lunch from Nanoha and ate together at the table. Nanoha chose to fix up some sandwiches for everyone. Sonic mentioned to Alicia that she would enjoy the lunch and sure enough Nanoha Takamachi did not disappoint.

"This tastes great!" childish excitement filled the features of Alicia and for the first time since she met them, she smiled. "Thank you very much"

"I'm glad you liked it." Nanoha noted.

The sandwiches were done before anyone could even blink, while Nanoha, Sonic and Fate opted to do the dishes, which weren't that many, but they wanted to let Vivio and Alicia spend time together.

The two girls in mention sat on the couch by the TV and played some video games together. A thought occurred to Alicia that she couldn't help but ask.

"Um. Vivio?" the young girl asked.

"Hai?" Vivio turned her head in question.

"Um.. Sonic-san said that I should knock on the door before going into their room at night." Alicia said, and luckily the three in question were out of earshot, "Why?"

"U-um..." Instantly Vivio blushed and after looking around to make sure her parents still couldn't hear them she leaned in and whispered a few things to her soon-to-be younger sibling's ear.

The reaction was quite amusing, Alicia's cheeks flushed the same color as Vivio's. At that moment, Sonic and his wives joined the duo on the couch.

"Alicia-chan?" Nanoha questioned curiously, "Your face is red.. so is Vivio-chan's. Is something wrong?"

"N-nothing!" Both girls quickly denied.

"Okay then..." the brunette sighed, "Here let's all play a game."

The next few hours was spent by the family in a peaceful trivia game. In the game, each player controlled a pawn that was shaped like a circle divided into six sections, the objective was to fill those six sections by answering questions from each of the six topics in question, the movement of the pieces was determined by rolling a dice and moving that many spaces in any direction that was available.

The phone rang through the house and interrupted the trivia game. Fate picked it up and saw that Lindy Harlaown called in.

"Hiiiii!" the not-so-young-but-not-so-old-either woman greeted energetically, "How are you?"

"Lindy-san!" Fate was excited to her her adopted mother's voice again, "We're all well. How are you?"

"I'm doing well." Lindy answered, "I took a glance at your reports that you filled in with Chrono-kun and Carim-san. Hard to believe that you guys saw Precia in your trip, and now you want to adopt her daughter?"

"Hai" Fate confirmed, "We already talked through it with Vivio."

"Well, I got the papers requesting that adoption" the former ship admiral spoke, "Everything looks to be in order so it looks like by tomorrow she'll be officially adopted. On another note, are you going to tell her about.. you know?"

"Yes." the enforcer nodded, "It's something she will have to know eventually, but I'm not going to tell her until she gets used to us."

"Well, okay." Lindy shrugged, "Just wanted to give you guys that heads-up. Enjoy yourselves now."

The phone call ended on that note. No sooner after that call end did Hayate phone in with a quick request for everyone in the household to watch something on the Bureau feeds.

Fate rushed back to the couch, paused the game they were playing and turned on the mentioned feed, which provided a live broadcast of Angel Island.

From the feed, the island appeared intact despite it's rough landing on Neo-Scrap Brain.. The feed's point of view was focused entirely on Knuckles as the echidna returned the sacred Master Emerald to the Island.

From there, the island took off, leaving a crater at the spot where it landed.

"Well that's good, Angel Island's back floating again." Sonic sighed in relief.

"Looks like that's the end of it then." Nanoha noted, "Shade's going to have a day in court soon, we'll probably have to be there, but all the damage was fixed and she helped us out so I don't think they'll treat her too harshly."

"Agreed." Fate nodded, "Now let's go back to our game. I think it was Sonic's turn."

"Yes it is" the hedgehog snickered as the game was un-paused, "Sweet! Wedge question!"

"If you answer it." Nanoha giggled, "The topic is math."

Sure enough, Sonic got the question right and earned the second wedge in his piece, but he finished second in the final results. Nanoha got all of her piece's wedges and answered the final question in the previous turn before Sonic did. The game was all fun and excitement for everyone. Alicia placed third, but was quite happy to have fun and at the same time learn a few interesting things.

Nightfall came quick and everyone was tired. In hopes and excitement for new life and whatever could await them tomorrow, the family turned in for the night.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Prequel to the cosplay event]**

Hayate and Carim, both dangerous cosplay fans with Carim teaching the young brunette everything she knows, gathered around with their choice of models for a small rehearsal before the big event in the upcoming weekend.

Hayate's models of choice were Sonic, Nanoha, Fate and Vivio. She would have taken so much heat from the parents, but the young Kaiser saved her from that heat with her excitement.

Carim's models were Schach, Sein, Otto and Deed. While Otto and Deed were both somewhat neutral on the idea of cosplay, they were easily persuaded into it somehow by Schach and Sein.

"Okay." Carim announced, "Let's get started, you all have your outfits, now go put them on and show us how they look!"

After some reluctance on the part of the three parents of the Takamachi family, they all went in and put on their provided costumes.

The costumes in mention were maid outifts designed for the specific color theme of each individual. Sonic's was a sky-blue, Nanoha's was white, Fate's was black, Vivio's held a rainbowish theme to it, Sein's color theme was sky-blue, Schach's outfit was purple, and finally Otto and Deed both wore matching green and red outfits respectively.

The models all filled their outifts quite cutely, especially Sonic, much to the embarrassment to the hedgehog and enjoyment to the duo who set up the event in the first place.

"Great!" Hayate giggled, "Oh this will be an event to remember with outfits like those."

To be continued!

**[Ending Theme: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 15]**

Author's Notes: Yup, slice of life coming right up. Buying me some time to get the next big arc coming in as I think about how to organize it all.


	16. Record 16

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another slice-of-life chapter to Lyrical Record. More slice-of-life to this story and trying to set up for the next arc. Oh! Just realized something, this chapter will be kinda historic, marking 1 year in Fanfiction writing for me. Last year about this time I made my fanfic debut with Lyrical Step, and since then not only has this story been going strong with the sequel to keep it going, it spawned a spin-off and brought some notice to the Nanoha series. Anyways, let's get back to this one.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[Time: 6:00 am]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

A peaceful ray of sunshine peeked through the window of Vivio and Alicia's shared bedroom. The light shined brightly and softly hit the face of Alicia Testarossa. The young girl woke up abruptly with a bit of a groan in discomfort from the brightness.

"Briiiight.." she half-yawned/half-groaned as she sat up and stretched out her arms

"Good morning, Alicia-chan." Vivio greeted as she too started to sit up from the brief sun-light waking her up.

"Oh.." Alicia answered, she still felt remarkably shy because she wasn't used to Vivio, "Morning Vivio.."

"How did you sleep?" Vivio asked, she was generally concerned over how her soon-to-be sister was feeling.

"I slept..." the young girl paused to form up an answer, "good."

The brief pause drew more concern to Vivio's features and it was shown in her expression, the small frown and sorry expression, "Are you okay?"

Alicia tried to show that she was okay through the waving of her arms, "Y-yes. I'm fine, really." after Vivio calmed her concerns, Alicia sighed in relief and explained her emotions, "I'm just not used to all of this yet."

"Okay!" Vivio beamed, "Vivio was just concerned."

"It's fine.." Alicia assured her.

"Here, come with me" Vivio offered her hand in kindness, though Alicia could tell there was a few hints of mischief in her tone, "We're going to wake Sonic-papa, Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama up."

"Okay.." the other girl timidly took the hand.

Down the hall they went to the door that led into the master bedroom. Vivio noticed that the door was closed and flinched a little bit, perhaps it was the nerves or a recent event, but she couldn't hide that nervousness.

"Something wrong?" Alicia asked.

"Nothing.." Vivio smiled awkwardly from memory, "Vivio just remembered something..."

"This is about what you told me about knocking before entering?" the other girl had that much insight to ask.

"Yeah.." the young kaiser blushed as her emotions could show the embarrassment, "Vivio kinda caught them, without any clothes.." she shivered a bit, "That's what got that rule started..."

Meanwhile, in the Master Bedroom, the bed covers held several tell-tale bumps that showed the family was definitely wide awake.

Sonic, Nanoha and Fate were in the middle of a hug and kiss frenzy that lasted well over a few minutes. Love was definitely in the air and their feelings showed as they all wanted to give each other a good morning to wake up to.

During their morning fun, Nanoha and Fate used their size advantage over the hedgehog to good use. They both took turns kissing the hedgehog while giving him a face-full of the one thing most guys would love to see and feel, boobs. Nanoha's had grown quite a bit over the months since her first big growth initiated at the Cradle, and since then, despite the weight, the fun made it worth it. To Sonic, the experience was original and fun. While Fate was initially jealous because Nanoha's had grown in months to a size that it took Fate years to grow to, she definitely approved of the "upgrade".

"Well.. are we awake yet?" Sonic sighed from a bit of fatigue.

"Maybe." Nanoha started in mischief.

"Maybe not" Fate finished in the same tone.

"Oh you two.." Sonic snickered, those two always got the best of him, though that's why he loves them.

The all-familiar knock killed the mood the lovers were in sadly. Nanoha, knowing full well who was behind the other side stood up and re-donned her pajamas with the others following suit.

"We're awake, Vivio-chan" Nanoaha sighed, "You can stop knocking now."

"Nanoha-mama..." Vivio deadpanned in embarrassment through the door, "You were going to do lovey-dovey stuff with Sonic-papa and Fate-mama, weren't you?"

All three blushed instantly and shared the same thought, _"Busted!"_

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 16  
Alicia's adjustments to a new family; the fate of Shade the Echidna

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

Now dressed in robes to match their pajamas, Sonic and Fate sat by the young girls at the table while Nanoha fixed breakfast,

Vivio still held a cute pout to her over the embarrassment of almost catching her parents in a repeat of an awkward situation. It was one of the two things that become a running gag to her annoyance in living with her family, whom she loves to pieces despite those two things. The first was the lovey-dovey environment she almost always catches them in with bad timing, and the second...

Nanoha turned around and served breakfast for everyone, her poor outfit, which was only about a year old, was close to bursting thanks to the increased bust that she had, and part of her bust was leaking a bit, much to Vivio's annoyance.

"Nanoha-mama! When are you getting new clothes?" the young kaiser asked, her tone showing her annoyance, "Your chest things are showing and your shirt looks like its about to break"

"It is?" Nanoha asked, oblivious to the actual change, in all her honesty, she could only feel discomfort, she wasn't sure it was that bad.

Sonic blushed quite a bit darkly as he confirmed what his foster daughter said, "Y-yeah... It's really um.. leaking out."

Nanoha looked downward to try to confirm for herself, only to quickly blush when she noticed the strain her bust was placing on the poor shirt she was wearing, "You're right!"

"We probably need to get you re-sized." Fate noted, "Here, let's change and all head for the mall. We need to get Alicia some clothes too, right?"

"Yeah." Sonic agreed, "Since, she's going to be living with us, it's best that she get her own outfits to choose from so she doesn't have to borrow from Vivio."

"You wanna come, Alicia?" Vivio asked, her voice full of promise and energy "It will be fun"

"Okay" Alicia was quick to agree, in fact she felt rather excited about the idea, "I'll go"

* * *

**[Mall: Clothes shop]**

After a quick drive in Fate's car, the family arrived at the mall that served as their destination. The very first place they went to was the girl's lingere department, much to the dismay of the blue hedgehog and only male in the party.

Sonic had settled for calmly waiting with Alicia and Vivio outside, while Nanoha was accompanied by Fate to get herself re-sized.

The dismay of Sonic was plainly visible through the expression he wore, and it was not missed by Vivio.

"Sonic-papa" the young kaiser said, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine.." Sonic groaned, "Just suffering one of the negative sides of being married.. underwear shopping.."

Vivio hopped into Sonic's lap energetically with a big hug, "Don't worry. Vivio and Alicia will keep you company."

"Eh?" Alicia blinked and just stared at the young kaiser she was starting to see as a sibling, "Me too?"

"Come on.. give Sonic-papa a hug" Vivio challenged, "Vivio's doing it and Sonic-papa won't hurt or bite."

After Alicia joined Vivio in the hug, the moment turned into quite a cute one as the trio settled in for a quick nap until Nanoha and Fate woke them back up.

What woke the trio up was a small flash from a portable camera that Nanoha was carrying, "This is definitely going into our family album. A dad and his daughters, just too cute for words."

"That reminds me" Fate realized, "We still need to get our own family picture taken.. all of us"

That task was added to the schedule as the family finished their clothes trip with a few green and blue themed outfits for Alicia as well as a couple of dresses in the same theme and color. They even bought Vivio a dress so she could match her sibling.

While the group was shopping, Fate received several messages on Bardiche. The first one that came in held the subject about her family's adoption of Alicia Testarossa.

"They approved our adoption request." Fate announced energetically, "The official paperwork is set to come in our mail by tomorrow, but in all likelihood, Alicia's going to become part of our family."

"Yay!" Vivio cheered loudly and energetically, "Vivio's getting a sibling!" and she celebrated with an overly excited tackle-hug of said sibling, Alicia.

The young Testarossa was just speechless during the whole announcement, her real mother gone, the idea of a new mother, especially two now, as well as a father figure, was quite a bit for her to take. Light-headed from all the excitement, the tackle-hug pretty much made her dizzy enough to fall to the ground from mental fatigue.

Fate, shaking her head in a lack of surprise over the young Kaiser's energy, scooped up her "daughter", who in all intentions, probably would have been her older sibling, in another world where she didn't "die" from the accident that set everything in motion.

The trip ended after the family got a couple of portraits taken for their portfolios. The pictures ranged from a cute shot of all the girls hugging the lone male, to a very formal line of smiles that befitted the usual family pictures, as well as a few solo shots of each member. All in all, the last picture was the most important with all of them kneeling down, smiling and hugging one another.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[BGM: "Apotos Night hub" Sonic Unleashed]**

Nightfall descended quite quickly just after the family returned home. Both Alicia and Vivio were asleep and cradled in Fate's and Nanoha's arms respectively, having fallen asleep during the ride home.

The girls placed comfortingly in their shared bed and under the covers, in their sleep, they hugged one another in a picturesque cute moment.

Sonic, Nanoha and Fate stayed up and shared a glass of tea over the events that occurred in their shopping spree. Soon enough the phone rang, Fate picked it up to put on the screen Admiral Chrono Harlaown.

The admiral regarded everyone with a formal greeting, "Enforcer, Captain, Sub-Captain"

"Oh boy... he's using titles." Sonic sighed after a sip of tea, "This must be important..."

"What is it, Chorno-onii-chan?" Fate asked.

"It's about the reports you filed in with us." Chrono began, "I used them during the testimony of Shade of the Nocturnus Clan's allocution. The judge approved all the terms of the plea, and gave her a sentence of two years worth of probation, that will be served under the charge of Shadow the Hedgehog. When he's not in charge of her, she'll be taking rehabilitation with the Combat Cyborgs. So long as she doesn't do anything that breaks the law, she'll be able to be accepted in society."

"Good" Nanoha agreed, "Where is she going to live?"

"If everything goes as planned with her rehabilitation and probation." The admiral explained, "She'll take up residence with Knuckles at Angel Island."

"That's great news" Fate sighed in relief, in all honesty, she was concerned that her report would actually damage the case for probation, and she didn't want that. She believed that Shade only did what she could under the guise of the beliefs she was raised on, "When she found out that what her clan's leader told her was a lie, she was shocked, and she wanted to atone."

"She'll get plenty of chances." Chrono noted, "Shadow has agreed to a transfer to the disaster relief squad, he'll meet up with Subaru and that unit's commander tomorrow."

"Onii-chan, what about Teana?" Fate changed topics, "She was going to be Shadow's aide while I was taking my time off."

"She's going to be re-assigned." The admiral noted, "Don't worry, this is nothing negative. In fact, it's a promotion, she'll be set to take on her first investigation with a partner as soon as one comes up for her."

"I'm glad.." Fate sighed, "Thank you for the update"

"That's all I have." Chrono started to end the call, "Enjoy yourselves now."

"Oh we will.." Nanoha sent a mischievous, and somewhat perverted look to her husband, "We will..."

With a couple of chuckles and a quick mutter of "lucky dog" Chrono ended the call. Leaving the two wives set for some "good times" with their husband.

They wasted no time in dragging him off to the master bedroom.

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Cosplay event at the Church (Part 1): Maid Cafe]**

The first event that happened at the church was a maid cafe, which meant that everyone involved had to dress up in a maid outfit, even the ones who set up the whole joint.

Carim Gracia and Hayate Yagami directed all the traffic whilst wearing purple and silver themed outfits respectively.

The others who participated were Sonic, Vivio, Nanoha, Fate, Schach and the women of the church. And of course, as part of the dress code, they all wore maid outfits, the noted characters wore the outfits they wore in the rehearsal.

Sonic and Vivio were sent out to wait the tables of the surprisingly large margin of girls who wanted to get a taste of what the cafe was selling. Nanoha and Fate were visible in the small kitchen area, making the tea and pastries. Schach manned the cash register, this was all under the orders of Carim and Hayate.

"_This is embarrassing.."_ Sonic sighed in mental thought as he served the tables, his cheeks slightly red, and grew more red as some of the girls fawned over how cute he looked in the dress,_ "I'm a married hedgehog, I'm a married hedgehog, I'm a married hedgehog"_ was repeated over and over in his mind as he put up a strong resilience to all the flirting initiated by the customers, again, largely female margin.

Nanoha and Fate couldn't help but giggle in amusement, but they all held trust in their husband, because at the end of the day, it was them that he was married to, and nothing would change that.

Still the whole scene drew some snickers from Hayate and Carim, and they all smiled knowingly, because it was just part 1 of their co-op cosplay event.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 16]**

Author's Notes: Again, there is a strong possibility that I may not be able to post next week. I'm off to relatives for thanksgiving in California. It all depends on if I can bring my laptop, and even if I can, it also comes down to if I can get an update typed up during that time.


	17. Record 17

SonicANIME2010 here and after a week-long hiatus due to a thanksgiving trip to visit my relatives in California, I'm back and ready to work again. So here comes another chapter of Lyrical Record, and it all sets up for the upcoming SSX arc, which will follow a christmas special. I don't own Sonic or Nanoha, let's get the show on the road.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence: 6 am]  
[BGM: "Apotos Day hub" Sonic Unleashed]**

The Takamachi family gathered around the table for breakfast after they all woke up in a rather uneventful way.

Even though she was only with the family for a little over a week, Alicia already found herself quite attached to everyone. Nanoha was kind and a great cook, Sonic's jokes never ceased to make her laugh, Vivio was kind and energetic, but the one who got her attention the most was Fate.

"_Something about her.."_ Alicia thought to herself, _"Fate-san.. I somehow feel like I know her, but I don't understand how.."_

Meanwhile, Fate had her own thoughts about her newly adopted daughter, _"I probably should tell her the truth... In fact I will.. I just need to find the right time to tell her..."_

"So.. anyways." Sonic started, his sudden start of a conversation woke the duo from their thoughts, "I've been thinking that we should get Vivio and Alicia their own devices."

"That occurred to me too, Sonic-kun." Nanoha noted, "Vivio-chan probably could use the assistance, and Alicia-chan can learn her magic too"

"Now that I think of it.." Alicia noted, "I've been asleep for so long.. and I haven't practiced magic in a while.."

"We can get you enrolled in the same school Vivio's going to." Sonic offered, "And I think with some talking and connections, we can get you in the same class as her."

"You can?" Alicia asked, curiosity got the best of her.

"We can try" Nanoha noted.

"Vivio, what do you think?" Alicia was honestly concerned that her "sibling" wouldn't be too comfortable being in the same class, especially since they still have only known each other for a little over a week.

"Vivio's excited." the young girl answered back in all honesty, "This can help us get along with each other more and get you more friends."

The blue hedgehog and only male of the family took a quick glance at the calendar on the wall, the calender read that the month was in the mid-November.

"Yeesh is it that time of the year already?" Sonic asked, "Wow, time can fly."

"Yeah." Nanoha noted, "which also means that the Saint Church's school is going to close for the holiday break. We can't have Alicia transfer in yet until the beginning of next year."

"Umm.. when's the next time you have class?" Alicia asked Vivio, an idea sprung to her mind.

"Hmm.." the young kaiser paused a few moments for thought, "School's on a fall break now fir this week. Next 2 weeks Vivio has class and then they break for the winter."

"Could I come by and sit in a few classes to watch?" the other young girl asked, "So I can see what I missed. What has changed in the last.. um..."

"Ten years" Fate answered knowingly, she couldn't help but giggle softly at the cute reaction Alicia wore.

Alicia was speechless, wide-eyed, you name it, she had it; she found the whole idea that she missed ten years in her "sleep" unbelievable. Her next course of action was very much predictable, at least to the experienced trio that were her new parents, the detail was so much for her to take in, it grew to be too much and she fainted comically with dizzy eyes. Giggles were the overall reaction from Sonic, Nanoha, Fate and Vivio

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 17  
Adjustments

* * *

**[TSAB Headquarters]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" FFX OST]**

After the surprisingly quick recovery by Alicia, the family took a quick car ride over the the main branch of the Bureau. Their agenda included check-ups on Sonic and Fate's reports, a visit to the engineering department to talk to Mariel Atenza and an arrangement for school books for Alicia.

The first stop was the Enforcers department area, where the enforcers report in and check up on if there were any active investigations to keep an eye out on. Sonic and Fate went in while Nanoha waited outside with Alicia and Vivio.

Inside the area, Sonic and Fate were greeted by Teana Lanster, the aide of Fate greeted her superior with a salute.

"Fate-san, Sonic-san!" Teana greeted optimistically.

"Oy oy.." Sonic chuckled, "Lose the salute.. we're all off duty here.."

"Sonic-san.. I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it's polite to salute superiors." The guns-woman spoke a little too dryly for Fate's taste.

"Ano.. Teana." Fate sighed, "Since Shadow's been assigned in charge of Shade's rehabilitation. Sonic has been chosen as his replacement, which means you're going to be reporting to him as well as myself."

"Ah! Gomen" Teana quickly bowed

"Oy.. Relax" Sonic noted, "Unlike "mr broody and angsty" I'm easy to get along with."

"He lets you call him that?" Teana asked, the nerves getting the better of her, and for good reason."

"Nope!" Sonic smirked, "But what he doesn't know can't hurt, eh?"

"How much experience as an Enforcer do you really have, Sonic-san?" the aide deadpanned.

"Well I don't exactly have a degree or anything formal like that." Sonic noted, "But don't you dare underestimate me. Just ask Fate."

"Fate-san?" Teana asked, "What does he mean?"

"Just because he doesn't have the training you and I usually get doesn't mean he's a pushover." Fate noted, "He knows what he's doing and he has the experience"

"Hai, Fate-san.." Teana relented, "Gomen, Sonic-san."

The hedgehog merely waved off the apology, "It's fine. Relax."

"Hai." the orange-head nodded, "So, what brings you both here?"

"Well, Fate dragged me here to check up on the reports we filed following our last mission, I don't really see why though, because I made sure all the spelling and stuff was fine"

"It's included in the duty, Sonic-kun." Fate explained,

"I know, I know.." Sonic sighed, "Still doesn't mean I have to like it too much."

"Sonic-san, Fate-san." Teana started, "When should I report next?"

"In a few days." Fate answered, "In the mean time, why don't you take some time off. I hear Subaru doesn't have too much time before her transfer sends her off"

Sonic could not resist a joke, "And I'm sure she wouldn't mind spending that time with you, since you both were so attached to one another during your time at Riot Force 6."

Teana instantly blushed at the memory, she had a nagging feeling that since he caught them, he would never let her live that down.

"Sonic-kun.." Fate spoke down to her husband in a questioning manner, "What do you mean?"

"Well.. I- mmmph!" the hedgehog started, or at least tried, but found his speech cut off by a quick hand that gripped over his mouth.

"Excuse us for a quick moment." Teana blushed furiously and forcibly dragged the blue blur off to a corner and out of earshot of Fate.

"Oy! What's the big idea?" Sonic asked after the enforcer aide released his mouth.

"Don't you dare tell anyone else what you saw back then!" Teana threatened with her device and aimed it "below the belt", "Unless...you find this part expendable."

The blue hedgehog comically nodded rapidly, "Okay, okay.. still, I don't think Fate would mind your relationship.. in fact I think she'd be happy.. and I don't think there's any doubt about the relationship between you tw Eep!"

Teana cut off the hedgehog's speech by thrusting the gun-device even closer, "You don't want to finish that sentence."

"Eh heh heh.. you're right.. I don't.." Sonic chuckled with mountains of sweat dropping down his face, the nerves were getting the better of.

"So.. we're clear?" Teana asked with a smirk.

"Clear!" more rapid nods from the hedgehog.

"Good!" the guns-woman released the hedgehog and they both returned to a confused Fate.

"Uh..." the enforcer blinked, "What was that about?"

"Nothing." Sonic quickly answered, "Nothing at all, can we get going?"

"Sure." Fate was again confused, but nevertheless agreed.

The duo met back up with Nanoha and the kids where they then proceeded to the engineering department.

Sonic, Fate and Vivio waited outside while Nanoha took the timid Alicia inside to meet with Mariel and Tails, as well as Shahra, who has assisted the duo in device development.

"Mary-san? Tails-kun? Shahra-chan" Nanoha called the attention of the fox and human duo.

"Nanoha!" the duo turned around to greet the captain. Mary did not recognize the young Alicia who accompanied Nanoha so she had to ask, "And who's this?"

Alicia quickly hid behind Nanoha, the timidness getting the best of her in the situation and it kept her silent and shy.

"That's Alicia." Tails explained, "I remember her from our mission."

"Yeah.." Nanoha noted, "Sorry you and Shahra didn't get much action on that one."

"It's fine." Tails shrugged, "You guys already had so much fighting support already."

"And Sonic said he didn't want to risk too much harm to me with the Unison and the Chaos Emeralds." Shahra noted.

"So, what can we do for you?" Tails asked.

"I'd like to request a device made for her." Nanoha indicated Alicia. Since you two were also making Vivio one."

"Sure, if we know what type of magic she practices." Mary agreed.

"I'll get that to you soon as we find out." Nanoha said.

"Great." Tails spoke eagerly.

"Thank you!" Nanoha bowed and left with a still timid Alicia in tow.

After the brief visit with Tails, Shahra and Mariel, the family made one last stop at the Saint Church to pick up some textbooks for Alicia to study with Vivio at home until the school's break expired.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

After the long day, the family settled down to eat dinner together. After the dinner was eaten, Nanoha quickly washed the dishes and joined her family at the table.

"There were no problems in arranging for your books Alicia-chan." Nanoha noted, "You'll have them tomorrow and that way you and Vivio-chan can study together."

"And we'll be here too." Sonic added, "in case you have any questions."

"Okay," Alicia smiled, "Thank you"

"Now.. if no one else minds." Sonic stood up, "I think it's time for bed."

"Agreed... though I don't think the three of us will get much sleep at all.." Fate stood up with Nanoha joining her.

"Ewww!" Vivio stuck her tongue out, "we don't need to hear lovey dovey talk from you.."

"Y-yeah." Alicia added.

"Mou.." Nanoha pouted, "You're no fun, Vivio-chan."

The pouty Nanoha took her loves back into their shared room. Alicia went with Vivio to their shared room. The one saving grace that Vivio had were that her parents were very quiet in their "lovey-dovey" time, and while she wasn't sure why it was so quiet, she had absolutely no interest or desire to see why.

* * *

**[Angel Island]**

Shadow met up with Shade outside the echidna's living quarters on the island.

"Evening, Shade" the ebony hedgehog spoke neutrally.

"Evening, Shadow-san.." the echidna answered back.

"Your probation starts tomorrow." Shadow announced, "You'll be working as my aide."

"In what?" Shade asked.

"As an Enforcer." the hedgehog explained, "Our jobs mainly involve investigations."

"Crime?" the former procurator asked.

"Correct." Shadow confirmed.

"When do I start?"

"First thing, tomorrow morning." Shadow said, "You report to me and if we get the call, we'll go to a scene to investigate."

"Understood." Shade saluted, "Good night sir.."

"Good.." Shadow turned around to walk away, "and one more thing.. don't call me "sir", I work for a living"

"Uh... Hai.." Shade was not sure what to say on that one.

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Cosplay event continued]**

The cosplay event continued with a "fashion show" Hayate and Carim had all the arrangements set up with both girls actually calling out the costumes each models wore.

The first one out was, much to his embarrassment, Sonic. And his outfit was cosplaying as Yuna from Final Fantasy X, had the dress-like robes, staff and everything.

"And first up is Sonic, wow does he pull off that Yuna cosplay quite cutely." Hayate announced, enticing a bluch of embarrassment from the blue hedgehog.

The Final Fantasy themed cosplay continued with the next model. One who Hayate had quite the field day with, especially thanks to an unexpected "improvement".

"Next up, Nanoha, cosplaying as Tifa." Carim announced.

Sure enough, the white mage came out, cheeks flushed in extreme embarrassment over the outfit that revealed quite a bit, mid-drift, and while her chest was covered, the white-shirt did a job of emphasizing her increased bust.

The rest of the show went on with Fate cosplaying as Lulu from X, and as a treat, Vivio and Vita double-cosplaying as Moogles.

"Is this all?" Sonic asked.

"Not even close" Hayate answered with a smile.

More to come...

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 17]**

**Author's Notes:** And after a week long hiatus, I'm baaaack in action.


	18. Record 18

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. On one note, after next week, I am completely off of class for a few weeks due to winter break, so I should have much more time to work on my fanfiction. Only restrictions are when I have family over, but other than that, it's all good. Well here we go.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Museum: 2 am]  
[No BGM]**

The local museum for Mid-Childa held an exhibit of exotic gems, each of them were as gorgeous as possible. Security was tight in consideration of how valuable these gems were, but alas, no security is perfect.

Alarms rang out throughout the building, as one of the glass cages were shattered and the gem inside was stolen. The alarms alerted the guards to go and check, and just as mysterious as the region was broken into, the gem disappeared and there was no apparent trace of the thief that stole the gorgeous diamond. After a quick sweep to check if anything else was taken revealed that only the gem was stolen, the security guard quickly alerted the authorities.

Two hours later, Fate, Teana and Sonic arrived at the scene, all dressed in black enforcer's uniforms. The hedgehog was quite grumpy and for good reason, he like most people, do not appreciate a loud wake-up call at three thirty in the morning. Neither Fate nor her aide Teana were in any better of a mood as they were annoyed. The other officers present were glad that the trio was fed tea and each held portable mugs for their drinks. The sheer magic power that the trio held each was quite intimidating, and the tea helped keep them on their good side.

The trio of enforcers met up with the local investigator in charge of the scene. A middle-aged man with silverish hair in a style that he combed to part to his right. His attire consisted of a light-gray suit underneath a trench-coat with his badge on the breast pocket, and a pair of nice shoes. The investigator carried himself in a way that one glance could show the experience he had. He greeted the trio of enforcers with a crack of a grin.

"I assume you three are the enforcers I was told to meet?" a seemingly permanent sardonic attitude was present, "You look the part."

"How could you tell?" Sonic raised his eyebrow.

"You're not even half my age." the detective answered back, "And I know how much the Bureau loves taking in young kids."

"We're still trained Enforcers, sir.." Fate retorted and closed in face-to-face with the detective, "and this is our duty, so you can either help us out, or get out of the way.

The detective stared back at Fate for a good amount of ten seconds before both burst out into chuckles, "Nice working with you again, Enforcer Harlaown."

"Same to you, Detective Briscoe-san." Fate answered back.

"So, are you going to introduce me to your friends, or is this old man doomed to the cold shoulder?" the man, identified as Briscoe, asked.

"Alright." Fate turned around to her companions, "Sonic-kun, Teana, this is Detective Lennie Briscoe, he's a friend of onii-chan."

"Pleasure to meet you, Briscoe." Sonic said in greeting.

"P-pleasure, sir!" Teana saluted in nervousness, which was caught by Briscoe.

"Ease up, I won't bite." Lennie chuckled.

"When Shadow-kun and I work with the locals, he's the top detective that we rely on." Fate explained

"I heard you got married a few months ago, I would have attended, but.. me and weddings.. they just don't mix." Briscoe sighed.

"I understand" Fate said, "Thanks.. now let's get to work."

"What do you have so far?" Sonic asked.

"Aside from the broken glass there's no real evidence that anyone was actually here, whoever stole the gem was skilled in stealth." the detective showed the enforcers the scene.

"This is odd." Teana noted, "There's nothing really unusual.. why would you guys give us the case if it's just a common burglary?"

"Because of what was stolen." Briscoe explained, "The gem was supposedly a relic with some power. Not really sure, but your people seemed keen on taking this one.."

"We'll find that out when we report in." Fate noted.

The enforcers went to work on the scene. A few details caught Sonic's attention personally, a white strand of fur, a piece of latex, and the brief smell of perfume. These details drew a knowing smile to the hedgehog's face.

"Interesting.." Sonic chuckled.

"Sonic-kun/san?" Fate and Teana said respectively.

"Something got your attention.." Briscoe observed.

"I think I already have a good idea as to who committed the crime.." the hedgehog chuckled, "Get ready.. we're going bat hunting!"

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 18  
Enter the lovely and mysterious thief Rouge

* * *

**[TSAB Headquarters: Enforcer's Department]  
[BGM: "Casinopolis ~Lobby~" **Sonic Adventure OST]

Sonic, Teana, Fate and Detective Briscoe gathered at a meeting area in the middle of a section of computers, with one of them hooked up to a big-screen tv to display information.

"So, you're telling me you already know who's behind this heist?" Briscoe asked in disbelief.

"I'm about a hundred percent sure." Sonic confirmed and with a few strokes on the computer, he displayed on the TV a facial image profile of a female bat with white fur, her face covered lightly in make-up to enhance the image of the bat's beauty, "Meet Rouge the Bat."

"Pretty face" Lennie commented, "Though not worth another ex-wife"

"You're married again?" Fate asked in her own display of surprise.

"Surprised you with that one, didn't I?" The older detective chuckled and held up his right hand with a wedding band on the ring finger, "About a few weeks ago.. I did send invitations, but your friend Hayate sent them back with a note saying that you were on your honeymoon."

"Well, it's belated, but congratulations." Fate said.

"Yeah.." Briscoe said snarkily, "Let's see how long this one lasts.". His snark wasn't without merit, his longest marriage was for fourteen years, two daughters, and a divorce on good terms. The rest of his marriages couldn't last for more than one year after that, and he tallied three before the one he currently is in. In all respects, all of his marriages were ended on good terms, it just was hard for law enforcement to keep a job and a family with every day their life being risked to keep them all safe.

"Anyways..." Sonic got back to the point, "Rouge the Bat's from mine and Nanoha's world, Earth. She's a master Jewel Thief, Treasure Hunter and also a spy for GUN. The local government that holds Station Square and the island region it's located in as their jurisdiction."

"How did she get here?" Teana asked, "If she's not a mage, she should have no way of getting from your world all the way here, at least not without the use of a bureau ship."

"Stealth is one of Rouge's most prized tools, and she excels in it." Sonic explained, "My guess is that she snuck in with the planes that were shipped from Earth to Mid-Childa when Tails arranged for his aircraft to be brought here for him to use for later models and helping the Bureau develop better aircraft."

"But why?" Teana asked, "I don't think GUN even knows much about the TSAB."

"Probably to scout." Sein explained as she walked in, "If there's a party of interest that you don't know much about, you send people in to spy and gather intel."

"Sein.." Sonic nodded, "This isn't unusual, is it?"

"Not one bit.." the combat cyborg took only a brief glance at the information Sonic put up on the TV, but the glance was more than enough for her to read what she needed, "She's got stealth, all the tools she could need for spying, that also doubles for thievery.. but, if what Sonic said is true. She must be slipping up."

"I know of her reputation, Sein." Sonic noted, "Heck, when we first met her, none of my friends, aside from Shadow, knew she was a spy until the ARK was on a crash course with Earth. I don't understand how she could slip up, since she prides herself on skill."

"She's dealing with much more advanced security here than on your world." Sein explained, "And that is related back to the higher degree of technology. Magic and devices help enhance the security of top-priority places like museums. And she was probably blind-sighted, that explains why you found some of her fur and whatever that piece of latex is for.

The hedgehog put up a display of Rouge the Bat in her usual jumpsuit, "It's for her outfit."

"Well." Teana could say this much, "She's not too shy about her figure."

"Still not worth another divorce." Brisoce sighed.

"Agreed..." Sonic quickly took to Fate's side and whispered up to her ear, "Don't ever let Hayate see that!"

"Agreed." the enforcer whispered back.

"Any clues as to where we should start looking for this bat-woman?" Teana asked.

"Bait?" Briscoe asked, "Want to catch a thief? Get some good bait for them to steal"

"That'll work." Sein noted, "With access to the media and other technologies in stock, we can easily set up a trap and make sure that she won't be able to suspect a thing.. And if the bait is something she really wants then that'll make it easier"

"But what would be a bait too good for her to pass up?" Teana asked.

Sonic grinned mischievously and almost wickedly in his confidence, "I think I know just the thing."

* * *

**[Angel Island]  
[BGM: "Kick the Rock ~Theme of Wild Canyon" Sonic Advnture 2]**

With Shade out assisting Shadow on a homicide investigation off-planet, Knuckles was left all by his onesies in guarding the almighty Master Emerald.

"Oh, Knucklessssssss" Sonic called out as he, Fate, Teana and Sein approached.

If there is one thing that Knuckles learned during his friendship with the blue hedgehog. If his name is called out in a sing-song way, then there's already a red flag, "What is it..."

"Could we borrow that Emerald?" Sonic asked quick to the point.

"No!" Knuckles immediately declined.

"But you didn't even hear what our reason was." Teana frowned, "It's important to our investigation."

"What could you possibly use the Master Emerald for that the Chaos Emeralds aren't already used for?"

"A better bat trap?" Fate noted, "From our understanding, a bat that's familiar with you can't take her eyes off the jewel."

"Yeah, Rouge often tries to steal it." Knuckles confirmed, "But I stop her.. what does she have to do with your investigation?"

"There was a heist last night at a local museum, we were assigned the investigation because the object stolen was confirmed to be a Lost Logia." Fate explained, "We've identified Rouge the Bat as our top suspect.

"She's here?!" Knuckles almost fell off the altar in surprise, "Great.."

"We need to find her, Knuckles." Sonic said, his tone serious and to the point, "and your Master Emerald as bait is the best bet we have at drawing her out."

"Forget it." the stubborn echidna declined, "I'm not letting you use the Master Emerald as some bait for your overly expensive mouse-trap!"

"Yeah." Sonic took a couple steps back, "I'll just let Fate and Teana handle this one.."

"Eh?" the echidna was confused by the hedgehog's actions, but quickly shrugged to lean back, only to come face-to-face with both Teana and Fate, the duo were visibly annoyed, "Uhoh.."

Uhoh was right and for the next five minutes, Sonic was blessed with a light show that was entertaining to him, and the end result was a knocked out echidna and the Master Emerald in Fate and Teana's hands.

"Great job" Sonic gave the two a wink and a thumbs up, getting blushes from the both of them, "Now let's get our "mouse-trap" built."

* * *

**[Several Days Later]**

Teana walked into a local apartment room that was rented out by the enforcers to use as a stake-out. After they "convinced" Knuckles to hand over the Master Emerald, the enforcers sent it to Sein and Detective Briscoe so they could work on the "trap". The plan was for them to allow the thief to take the Emerald and then follow her to the location where the other stolen jewel was, that would allow for them to not only take her into custody, but also take back the Lost Logia.

"This is the same museum that she stole the other gem from." the aide voiced her opinion, "How can we be certain she'll go to this spot again?"

"She's been after the Master Emerald for years." Sonic noted, "I think it's the idea that there's a gem that she hasn't been able to steal yet, and that gives her the challenge to try to steal it."

"He's got a point, Teana." Fate added, "and we also made sure that the reports noted that the security was heightened in technology to accommodate the gem.,. All the new additions were basically set up so that way we know where she is and where she goes. We also added a tracker to the Emerald, even though we'll follow her on foot or in the air, it helps to have a few satellites nearby to help out."

Sure enough a silent alarm tripped by an intruder got the attention of the enforcers. Sonic clicked on the moniters to display the camera feeds in the room of the Master Emerald to reveal a small, dark figure, shaped like a humanoid bat. The mages watched as the bat stole the gem and flew out from the top of the glass-window dome-shaped roof.

"That's our cue" Fate took the lead and guided Sonic and Teana to the top of their apartment rooftop, where she took flight from there with Sonic riding her back and Teana being held by the shoulders.

* * *

**[Old warehouse on the outskirts of town]**

Rouge the Bat faced no trouble in getting back to her temporary place of residence, which was revealed to be an old warehouse that she converted into a living quarters for herself. Feeling pride in her steal of the Master Emerald, the bat placed the gem in a special area for her to admire as she laid on an old, but well-cleaned couch.

"Finally, the Master Emerald is mine." Rouge laid her feet on a stool to rest them, "It's too bad, Knuckles wasn't around to admit his defeat.. Well there is my personal victory.. now if only I could somehow get in contact with the nerds at GUN, they'll have a field day over what I have to report.

"Afraid your victory has been short-lived." an unknown female voice echoed throughout the warehouse.

"What the?!" the bat jumped in surprise as Fate dropped down with Teana and Sonic in tow.

"Howdy, Rouge." Sonic chuckled in amusement of the situation, "Fancy meeting you here.."

"How did you find me?" Rouge asked in more surprise, "And who are your "friends", Sonic?"

"Did you honestly think you'd get that emerald without some gripe from Knucklehead? We let you take the emerald so we could follow you back here.."

"Fate Harlaown-Takamachi" Fate introduced her self formally, "Enforcer"

"Teana Lanster." Teana added, "her aide.

"I'm working under Fate too." Sonic noted.

"You haven't caught me that ea-uwah!" Rouge began but found herself bound by chains.

"By authority of the Time-Space Administration, you're under arrest for theft." Fate declared and displayed her badge of authority.

"Great.." the bat groaned, "Just great.. not only have I been out of contact with GUN for three weeks since I got here, but now I get arrested for doing the thing I love to do most.."

"Eh.." Sonic shrugged, "Life's tough."

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ: Enforcer Department]**

The heist case was closed and the Lost Logia was given for the techies to study, but as it turns out, the object has been disabled for years and it was best described as a really old battery. Sonic and Fate discussed most of the case as they walked out.

"Well.. " Sonic shrugged, "Rouge has her trial pending and we got the job done, but that could have been more interesting.."

"This is what we're going to get used to now.." Fate sighed, "So long as Shadow and Shade are taking all the better jobs, besides this is the best way we can do our job and still be home to spend time with our family."

"Good point." Sonic nodded, "Now let's go home.. I'm starving.. and Nanoha's cooking is just what I'm in the mood for..."

"Maybe if we play nice, we could get something more later.." Fate noted with a bit of a dreamy blush.

"Even better point" Sonic snickered, "Just remember who's in charge... and it ain't us..."

"We could try to fix that.."

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Sonic shrugged

With that the duo returned home and had an eventful late-night action with their wife, Nanoha, who wanted to give her loves a "reaward" for their case.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Rouge's daily life]**

Well, Rouge the Bat certainly makes a highlight in every shot she's in, and considering her appearance, it's none too surprising, but how does she do it?

Every morning the bat wakes up and has her breakfast, then she immediately puts her make-up on and get dressed.

At mid-day she touches up her make-up, the same is done in the evening.. Usually when she's not working at the GUN, she'll be shopping.. for more make-up and facial products.

"I find you here again, Rouge." the female cashier of the fragrance boutique commented, "You've put a lot of make-up on, don't you suppose you should put some emphasis on your attractive body too?"

"Oh I already got that covered honey." the bat placed her elbow on the desk.

Meanwhile, the maids cleaning the bat's house left a note at her table, it read "we quit! Couldn't figure out which jumpsuit was clean or dirty.

Rouge the Bat.. Expert treasure hunter, exceptionally sexy, but alas.. has too many of the same outfits and doesn't stop wearing make-up.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 18]**

Omake: For those expecting a cosplay omake I'll add that to the next chapter. This one I wanted to cover some of the other characters. Oh and a little trivia challenge, I made a special tribute/reference to an older TV show.. the presence of another character was a shout out.. my challenge is to identify that character, who plays him in the show, and what show he's from


	19. Record 19

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record.. with until the new year for my scheduled launch of the SSX arc, I can bring time to use these chapters as slice-of-life and set-ups for the arcs. I already introduced Rouge in the previous chapter, that will make an impact later on in this story. Anyways.. let's get going on this one then.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[No BGM]**

Heaven, heaven on Earth, or Mid-Childa if one must be a technical nerd, but nonetheless, it was heaven, at least to Sonic. Early in the morning he gets the benefits of having two wives who also not only love him, but each other just as much. This particular morning Sonic was greeted by the wonderful sight of both women kissing one another passionately and lovingly, blushes luminescent on their faces. He had no desire to interrupt the show, but nonetheless, their kiss broke off once they noticed that their shared husband was also awake.

"Nanoha-chan," Fate started, "I don't think it's fair that we get all the fun if he's awake."

"You're right, Fate-chan." Nanoha giggled, "He's married to us too, so why not let him in too.."

"Darn.." the hedgehog said softly, "And you were just getting to the good part."

"How right you are.." Nanoha giggled again and gave him a quick kiss, "Because in this case, you are that good part."

"So good..." Fate added.

The heaven continued as both girls took turns enveloping the hedgehog husband in passionate kisses, when they weren't focused on the great-to-kiss lips, they gave service to his cheek. Unfortunately it had to end with a treatment of his face as Fate's phone rang to signal that a call was coming in.

"Oh.. buzz-kill.." the enforcer voiced her frustration, "Is it appropriate to say "I'm not here" to them?"

"You can ignore it you know.." Sonic noted

"Can't do that, it's probably important." The yellow-haired enforcer picked up her phone, "Enforcer Harlaown-Takamachi.."

Sonic and Nanoha quickly predicted that the call was indeed important and went to get themselves decent, with the hedgehog more so in case he and his yellow-haired wife would have to go to work, if that was the case, then Nanoha would take care of Alicia and Vivio.

"Huh? Oh.. Okay" Fate nodded, "I'll tell him now and we'll be there in an hour. We'll see you then." with that she ended the call by closing her phone.

"What's up?" The blue hedgehog asked.

"We've been asked to report to the courtroom." Fate explained, "There's a hearing considering Rouge the Bat"

"Wasn't she that thief you arrested?" Nanoha asked.

"Hai" Sonic confirmed, "Was there any issues in our arrest or anything?"

"Not sure.. all I know is that it's a hearing.." Fate answered, "We won't know until we get there."

"Hopefully the bat had the good sense to take a plea." Sonic mused, "She's generally cooperative... granted there's the right incentive."

"We'll just have to see..." Fate told her husband, "We'll have to see.."

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 19  
Aftermath of Rouge's arrest. Rouge's punishment is a job.

* * *

**[Courtroom: Exterior]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

Turns out, the other person on the line of Fate's call was Chrono Harlaown. The admiral had requested she meet with him and a prosecutor outside of the courthouse. All the background information that was sent to Bardiche and then read out by Sonic in Fate's car indicated that Rouge the Bat had agreed to take a plea of guilty on a few misdemeanors for her robberies. Since the only real damage was to the property, her punishment would be the TSAB equivalent of a slap on the wrist, which would do plenty of damage to the pride of the renowned bat thief.

Chrono and the prosecutor, who turned out to be Quint Nakajima, much to Fate and Sonic's surprise, met outside the courtroom for a quick debriefing.

"Morning you two." Chrono greeted with a few subtle teasing hints, "Hopefully I didn't interrupt anything this morning.."

"O-oy!" an instant blush came to Sonic's face, which got the admiral to chuckle in amusement.

"Onii-chan..." Fate started, her tone actually dark enough to make her brother nervous, "Do I have to tell Amy (Limietta) about this? I'm sure she wouldn't mind "re-educating" you on manners."

"A-ah..." the admiral fell speechless, if one person could intimidate him the most sometimes, it was that of his own wife.

Payback was so sweet and funny. Sonic, Quint and Fate snickered in amusement, they knew that shot would get the admiral's attention. Hilarity aside, the four went into the courtroom.

"How is Teana?" Quint asked, "Subaru's been temporarily assigned to another division in rescue reliefs and they haven't been able to talk much."

"She's doing good as an aide." Fate replied, "I imagine it's only a year or so before she can get the promotion from aide to enforcer."

"Our next investigation I think we could let her run on her own." Sonic offered, "And we'll tag along to advise."

"That's what I was thinking, too" Fate agreed, "It will be a good chance for her to build some experience "

"That sounds great." Quint was excited, "I'll be sure to tell her that. Subaru will love to hear it."

In reality, despite all her attempts to keep quiet the relationship she has with the cyborg, Teana's romantic relationship with Subaru was known and obvious to all within her circle of friends and superiors. In fact, even Nanoha could see it, then again the clues she was dropped by Fate and Sonic's stories were a contributing factor.

"How's Alicia?" Chrono asked, suddenly serious.

"She's doing fine." Fate answered, "I haven't told her the truth yet with us.. I'm waiting for the right time."

"So.." Sonic asked, "Is there going to be a plea for Rouge?"

"She and her court-appointed attorney have agreed to the terms." Chrono confirmed, "She'll serve community service and probation under a mage's watch, and we will push for service in the Bureau from there."

"Good luck getting her the incentives for that one.." Sonic snarked, "Heck the only reason she joined GUN was because they gave her the lucrative, butt-kissing offer of freedom to have any jewels she pleases.."

"We're not like your local government, Sonic." Chrono sighed, "Her incentives would be much more.. inviting."

"Really?" Fate was intrigued, "How do you plan on that?"

"Oh.. Just a few threats.." the admiral smirked mischievously and darkly, "She doesn't join, I'll be sure her next community service assignment is with Hayate"

"Oh that'll do the trick." Sonic instantly snickered, "If there is anything worse for someone like Rouge, it's the well-renowned Queen of Cosplay's "royal treatment" which would apply especially for a woman with Rouge's "assets"."

"Well considering Hayate's first thoughts back when you first told us was that she had the "assets" that would get her attention" Fate noted, "I'm certain that Hayate-chan would love to have someone like Rouge for a model.."

"Plus!" Chrono snickered, "She's not getting off so easily. Before she gets her punishment, she has to allocute her crimes, as well as the embarrassing arrest you put her in."

"How'd you manage to get her and her attorney to agree to that?" Sonic asked.

"It helps to have the Bureau's queen of cosplay on speed-dial." Chrono smirked, "Of course the bat has no idea who she really is, but her lawyer does and it's the last thing she wants to put her through."

"Don't need to explain any further." Fate chuckled in amusement, "Let's get this hearing under way."

* * *

**[Courtroom]  
[No BGM]**

A crowd gathered and sat in the benches of the designated civilian area that was located just behind the benches for the prosecuting attorney, which was manned by Chrono and Quint, and the bench for the defense party, who was of Rouge the Bat and her middle-aged legal aid attorney.

A woman who looked to be in her mid-forties served as the judge and thus wore the black robes, she addressed the court with a knock with her gavel.

"All rise." the judge announced. For a brief moment all who were in the courtroom rose at attention, and then sat back down once the judge did, "We will now begin a hearing in the case of Rouge the Bat under the crime of robbery and property destruction. I understand there is a plea deal on the table?"

"Hai" Quint rose, "The defense and prosecution have agreed to a lesser charge of misdemeanor theft and property damage. The first stipulation of the deal is that the defendant allocutes to her crimes."

"Very well.." The judge sat back, her experience told her several things, judging from the appearance alone indicated that it will be interesting and a lingering thought that she should have brought pop-corn.

The same though echoed through the hedgehog and his enforcer wife's minds, for the same reasons of the entertainment value for the bat's embarrassment and laughter that would most likely occur during said allocution.

"The defendant may proceed" The judge announced and added a brief afterthought softly, "This will be good.."

Rouge's bat ears twitched as she heard that brief comment, which made her blush in embarrassment as she stood up, "Where to begin.."

"How about the crime you committed?"the judge asked dryly, which got a few chuckles from the audience.

"Right..." The bat kinda chuckled, obviously this was her first time in a situation like this, "So.. late at night I was on a flying patrol, looking for any jewels gorgeous enough to suit this wonderful woman's personality, and I found it in the blue crystal I saw at the museum... Getting into the museum was no problem with my skills, agility and stealth, only problem, I couldn't get the jewel out unless I broke the glass... a bad sign already for a thief such as myself. I broke the glass and attempted to fly off with the jewel, but in the process one of the annoying security lasers clipped my arm." she gestured to the dark-red bruised stain to her exposed shoulder

"From there what happened?" the judge asked.

"I stowed it away in my warehouse that I used as a home until I could establish some income. When I heard the Master Emerald was stored at the same museum, it was too good for me to pass up." the bat continued, "So I stole that jewel and returned home to plan another heist for money."

"There you were arrested by a trio of Enforcers?" the judge asked.

"Yes..." Rouge sighed, "I was tricked! They got me in a trap! How embarrassing! For them to lure a pretty lady like me into a trap.. You have no idea how it feels."

"I'm sure I don't." The judge sighed, "Then again the worse crime I ever committed was jaywalking and that was when I was a rebellious teen."

A brief round of applause came from all of one familiar blue hedgehog, who chuckled a bit as did the others in the audience present.

Another bang of the gavel ended the humor, "Alright. The allocution is accepted.. I understand the convictions will be for misdemeanor theft and property damage? In exchange for probation and community service."

"Hai" Quint confirmed, "we of the Bureau figured the humiliation of the defendant is punishment enough.. Although, your honor, it should be noted that there is an offer to join the ranks of the Time-Space Administration as part of her probation. Her skills and agility should be quite the commodity and give quite a bit of use in the long haul."

"Who have you designated to be in charge of this probation?" The judge asked.

"That would be the head of Special Mobile Force 6, Commander Yagami Hayate." Quint answered.

It took all of the willpower he had, but Sonic suppressed his laughter into soft chuckles, the same was also said for Quint, who held a bit of a mischievous aura and look as she gazed at the unsuspecting bat.

"Y-your honor!" the defense attorney cried, "When we go the deal made we specifically said anyone but that girl.."

"She is the only one available who's unit has had great results in rehabbing criminals. They've made great progress on the Combat Cyborgs, so a thief like Rouge shouldn't be too much to handle."

"I'm inclined to agree." the judge nodded, "Alright. My verdict is final, the plea agreement shall be upheld as it was given, and starting tomorrow, Rouge the Bat will report to the Saint Church for her probation and community service under the watch of Commander Yagami. Court is dismissed!" A bang of the gavel signaled the dismissal in which everyone left.

* * *

**[Local Cafe a few miles away from the Takamachi Residence]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

Sonic, Fate, Chrono and Quint left the courthouse together in laughter over their victory in the case. They celebrated over a cup of tea at a cafe.

"Ha ha! Nice one Quint!" Sonic chuckled, "You got her good there. I did not see that one coming."

"Neither did I," Fate added, "When did you plan for that one? You said it was a threat."

"We only told the defense that the person in charge of the probation was someone we could trust and has done it before." Quint noted, "And I knew that the last thing I wanted was to put her with you guys."

"This probably doesn't need an answer.." Sonic was curious anyway, "But why?"

"Because we wanted her rehabilitated AND alive..." Chrono noted in mock-seriousness, "Considering Nanoha's reputation for, shall we say, befriending?"

A luminescent blush appeared on Fate's face in her memory, "Yeah.. Befriending.. I could imagine that."

"So I figured I rather have her a cosplay doll but alive, versus fearing the wrath of Takamachi." Quint noted.

"Yeah.. Nanoha can get that way.." Sonic winced, while he's thankful that he's not once been on the bad end of Nanoha's temper, he has seen those that have and what happened to them. A certain combat cyborg who attempted to have the best friend of her then-boyfriend used as a puppet came to mind. On a more minor notable example, Teana still would have nightmares of pink, even to the present day.

"Well.." Chrono stood up after he finished his tea, "I must be off. I have some reports to fill out."

"Same here." Quint did the same, "I have to head for the church to give the heads up to Hayate and the others about their new mod- I mean houseguest."

"And we have to go home to tend to Vivio and Alicia." Fate added.

"It was nice to see you both again, Fate, Sonic." Chrono gave his younger adopted sibling a hug and her husband a shake of the hand, "I hope we'll meet again on more positive circumstances."

"Same here." Quint added.

With that everyone left to their respective destinations.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[Late Night]**

With all the courtroom drama and such settled, Fate was able to relax with her family for the rest of the night. Soon once it came for bed time, almost everyone went to bed. The only ones who didn't go were Alicia and Fate.

Alicia was a few steps away from her shared bedroom with Vivio before Fate called to her attention, "Alicia?"

"What is it? Fate-san?" the younger girl asked curiously and with a few hints of worry.

"There is something I need to talk to you about.." Fate's tone was completely serious, not a single hint of a joke was heard, and that made the young Alicia very nervous.

"Uh.. okay.." Alicia was unable to hide her nerves.

"Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you." Fate placed her warm, comforting hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "It's just something I need to tell you.. something that you needed to know at some point. Come with me outside, I'll tell you."

"Okay.." Alicia was more inclined to agree after she heard that she was going to be safe.

The duo went outside to an already set up table of tea and cookies, Fate had already set up the scene just before she asked to talk with Alicia.

Both Alicia and Fate took their own seats. Fate took the liberty of pouring tea into Alicia's mug.

"Fate-san..." Alicia asked in a very curious manner, "What do you want to tell me?"

"It's about us.." Fate finished her pouring of the tea and sat back then, "More appropriately... how we are related.."

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Hayate's plans for Rouge]**

Hayate Yagami found herself in an office she rented out in the Saint Church to host her unit. What plagued the brunette's mind at the current moment was something on a more comical note.

"What costumes would suit a bat-woman..." she thought out loud as she doodled in a notebook.

"Hayate?" Schach bowed and entered the brunette's office, "Is there something on your mind?"

"I heard from Quint that I'm going to be in charge of a house-guest's probation." Hayate answered, "And from what I saw, she's got quite the build for cosplay."

"You're going to try to convert her to cosplay.." Schach deadpanned, "Aren't you.."

"Don't you act holier than thou to me." Hayate teased, "After all.. wasn't it you guys who lost Vivio when she was being healed here because you were trying to find a costume for her?"

"Touche..." Schach nodded, "Touche.."

"Costumes for a bat like her.." Hayate thought out loud, "Any ideas?"

"Well considering her build.." Schach analyzed some pictures, "Wouldn't put a succubus or a witch past her. She'd fit both well.."

"A succubus! That's it!" Hayate snickered mischievously, "Thanks for the idea,."

In a matter of minutes Hayate's notepad found itself missing a page, said page was given to Schach of the church, "Get this to the costume makers. We haven't much time. We gotta prepare a "warm welcome" to our new guest."

Hayate's mischievous laugh, which seemed to echo throughout the whole church, served as a funny highlight, one which got Carim chuckling too.

"Seems our little Living Lost Logia is up to something fun." the head knight smiled as she closed her book, "I hope she learned from me well... if not, I can always put her in her place.."

A mischievous aura was shown over the knight as she held that last thought.

More of this to come...

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 19]**

Author's Notes: It's official.. I am evil.. I am forcing Rouge to endure the tough punishment laid down upon her, served by the Queen of Cosplay herself.. The question remains, how will the bat-thief handle such embarrassing punishment... stay tuned! oh and any ideas for Rouge's cosplay, please tell me.. I'm always open for suggestions


	20. Record 20

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record, well it's only a matter of time until the release of the SSX arc for the story. I know I can hardly wait, but sadly, there's still the wait.. meh heh.. evil I know, but I still have some time to finish up the prep chapters following up to this arc, that and the christmas specials.. so uh.. good things come to those who wait? Meh, let's get going

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Scene of a fire: Early Morning]  
[No BGM]**

Early in the morning, no less than o-five-hundred, saw the arrival of Sonic, Teana and Fate to a scene formerly where a fire was just put out at a local warehouse. Grumpy due to how early they had to wake up, the trio were very thankful that Nanoha was so good at brewing fresh tea, otherwise they wouldn't have made it through the morning without any incidents. Still, a little bit of annoyance was obvious on the blue hedgehog's expression.

"Can someone explain to me why we're sent out to investigate some fire?" Sonic asked, "I mean come on, if it's just a regular fire then the locals can handle it."

"Hayate said she got a call about this fire having some relation to a Lost Logia." Fate explained, "Because of that, and if true or not, she didn't want to risk the possibility of an incident, she sent us out to check."

"What about Shadow and Shade?" Teana asked, "Shouldn't they handle this?"

"On loan to another squad." Fate sighed.

"Just our luck." Sonic grumbled, "Oh well.. might as well handle this one then.."

"Hayate did say she'll give us a "compensation" for all our extra time." Fate noted in hope, "Said it was a surprise though."

"Wonder if it has anything to do with Rouge having to stay at the church." Sonic pondered.

"Probably." Fate shrugged, "We won't know until later today."

"At any rate." Teana took a few steps forward, "Let's get going on this case."

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 20  
A typical work day for all

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[BGM: "Macalania Forest" FFX OST]**

Winter had arrived on Mid-Childa, and the first sign of the wonderful yet chilly season was the presence of snow on the ground. Snow that covered the front yard of Nanoha's house.

The young foster mother of two wonderful girls fixed breakfast her her kids while the other two parents were off on work, much to her disappointment, as she hoped they'd be able to play in the snow with everyone. Thoughts of optimism soon replaced that disappointment as the weather report called for another dump of snow to last all day and into the next day.

Vivio and Alicia were both eager to finish their breakfast quickly so they could enjoy the snow with one-another. Much to Nanoha's surprise, Alicia just about matched Vivio in energy and happiness. Whatever Fate and Alicia talked about last night must have changed how they felt for one another.

On Alicia's end, she could only shed a small tear of joy as she smiled in memory of the long talk she had with Fate.

_-Flashback-  
**[BGM: "Yuna's Theme" FFX OST]**_

_The night before saw Alicia and Fate talking over a cup of tea. The young Alicia was still confused as to why Fate wanted to talk to her in the first place, and she had her own guesses, but wasn't sure what to make of them._

"_Fate-san.." Alicia asked, "What about us? I don't get it, what did you want to say?"_

"_I'm sure you'd had a feeling of familiarity whenever I'm around, right?" the artificial mage asked, "Our appearances and manners, are all similar, you noticed this?"_

"_Yeah.." Alicia answered after a brief pause to collect her thoughts about what Fate had asked, "Why is that? Why do I feel this sense of familiarity?"_

"_Because." Fate started with some hesitation, "I was created as a clone of you.. by kaa-san.."_

"_A c-clone?" Alicia just stared in shock, "But how? You look older than me. And.. and..."_

"_Remember the accident?" was all that Fate needed to say to silent her appropriately "older-sister" in thought, "I do too.. We have the same memories of our childhood.. All the time Kaa-san was busy with her work.. the treasured moments spent with her.. The accident..."_

"_Yeah..." Alicia held her head, "I remember that, but afterward it was a big blur until I woke up again."_

"_What really happened.." Fate started to tear up a bit, "Was that you died... in that explosion.. the accident caused your death.. at least it should have.. and kaa-san.. created me.. in hopes to bring you back..." the elder-teenaged enforcer left out a few details for the moment, knowing she shouldn't bring in too much too soon._

"_I... d-d... Died?!" the young Testarossa gasped as she herself almost broke into tears._

"_I'm sorry..." Fate shook her head, and in a feeling of comfort, quickly hugged the younger child, "I really am.. Alicia.."_

"_But.. how am I here now?" Alicia's confusion could barely be heard through her tears and cries as she literally clung to the Artificial Mage._

"_Kaa-san.." Fate sobbed in the embrace, "She was able to give you life again.. but at the cost of her own.. She gave her life away to give you yours... and she made me promise her..she asked me to take care of you.. give you the love that she couldn't now.. And I promised her just that.. I hope that you'll accept me.. I know I'll never be anything like kaa-san was when she gave you her love, but I'll try my hardest.. if you accept me.."_

_Alicia remained silent in Fate's embrace, which she made no attempts to escape from, she had to think and take in all that she just learned, she realized something, that she and Fate were in all realities barely any different from each other. Alicia had the fear that Fate would reject her, and Fate had the fear that Alicia would reject her too. It was then that Alicia tightened the hold of her hug of the Artificial Mage, "Fate-san..."_

"_Hai? Alicia?" the older Testarossa asked._

"_Do you remember.." the younger Testarossa started to ask, "The promise that kaa-san made? About.."_

"_When she was finished with work she'd give you a younger sister?" Fate finished, "You certainly embarrassed her.. didn't you?" She said in humor of the memory_

"_Yeah." Alicia giggled, "I guess you would have been my imoutou, if I didn't "die".. wouldn't you.."_

"_Yeah.. If you put it that way." Fate answered._

"_Well.. I can't have a kaa-san that's also my imouto." Alicia noted, tears drying out as she sought a chance to have some fun._

"_W-wait.. you mean.." Fate started to buy the little trick, "Y-you can't accept me?"_

"_Not as an imouto, silly Fate-san, you're too old!" Alicia giggled, "But as a kaa-san. I can accept you.. and Vivio-chan can be my imouto!"_

_With the young mother's feelings settled, she couldn't help but ask a lingering question, "What about Sonic-san and Nanoha-san?"_

"_Vivio calls them Nanoha-mama and Sonic-papa." Alicia concluded, "Therefore they can be my mama and papa too... just like you, Fate-san.. or should I say. "Fate-mama". Yeah, that name has a nice ring to it."_

"_Now you're copying Vivio." The young adult chuckled, "Come here you.." she said as she pulled Alicia into a deeper hug along with giving her a playful noogie._

_The moment seemed to last for an eternity as the two established a bond, and both of their feelings settled. Fate was accepted as Alicia's mother, and Alicia was accepted by Fate. They both resolved their feelings and went to bed with smiles on their expressions_

_-Flashback end-_

**[BGM: "Macalania Forest" FFX OST]**

Alicia smiled as she remembered her talk with Fate, learning the real truth, coming to terms with their own feelings and finding a new resolve and look. No longer did she have anything to keep her from being happy, and she could finally accept the new life she had with her new sibling in Vivio Takamachi.

Speaking of Vivio, the young Kaiser saw her new sibling's deep thought and saw it as an opportunity to take an advantage of as they were both outside. With childish glee, she threw a snowball and watch it pelt Alicia's face.

"Hey!" Alicia pouted from the surprise attack, "No fair!"

"You were open Alicia" Vivio taunted in a sing-song fashion.

"Oh, so that's how you're playing?" Alicia quickly formed a snowball of her own and threw it, "Then take this!"

Vivio giggled as she was pelted and returned fire. Giggles and laughs filled the minutes as the girls had the time of their lives, even Nanoha debated joining in, only to stop when she felt that it was appropriate for her to wait for Sonic and Fate. That thought didn't last two seconds as both girls dragged her in by pelting her with their snowballs.

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ: Enforcer's Department]  
[BGM: "Miscasting" Nanoha A's OST]**

Sonic sighed as he looked out the window, the snow made the day a beautiful one and he was stuck doing work with Fate instead of being at home having fun with their kids. To make matters even worse, their investigation couldn't get any more obvious and boring. There was an all too obvious lead that led Teana, him and Fate to some wannabe rebel's house, where an arrest was easily made.

"Okay!" Sonic slapped his hand on the table of a dazed suspect to alert of attention. The suspect's looks just screamed "surfer guy". Long blonde hair, lean built like one who spends time at the beach, heck he even had a surfer drawl to go with it, "Duuuuude.. You're gonna fess up.. Where'd you get the explosives?"

"Like dude." the suspect shrugged, "I like totally don't know what you're talking about man. Get out of my face man"

"Well. "dude"." Sonic mocked the suspects drawl, "We, like totally like found so many traces of like explosive residue on you, "dude". You might as well have been bathing in it "man".. and don't like, totally like get me started on the endless amounts of meth we like totally found. So I'll ask again, where did you get the explosives?"

"Alright alright, man." The suspect waved his arms, "I give. I give.. Me and my buddies, like totally got them from this other guy, he hangs around the street by the beaches, and he like totally gave us these bomb things so we can steal some gem for him to sell and he'd, like totally, pay us for it."

Satisfied with his interrogation, the hedgehog smirked and left the room to talk with Teana and Fate.

"So, you girls heard what sufer-wannabe-boy had to say?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah, nice work there, Sonic-kun." Fate complimented with a giggle, "You put him in his place."

"Well he was getting annoying with that surfer guy attitude." The hedgehog shrugged, and then turned to Teana, "What do you think? This is your investigation, where do you want to check out first?"

"Let's check out the suspect's supplier." Teana noted, "If this guy is as close as we heard, then we can bust him as well as this idiot's accomplices."

"Well.." Sonic shrugged as he held the door out of the base for Teana and Fate, "Ladies first"

"Kiss-up." Both girls teased as they walked out at the same time.

* * *

**[Beach]  
["Miscasting" Continues]**

Even the cold air of the winter season could not stop some thrill-seekers from a little surfing trip. The trio of enforcers could easily point out the individual the suspect described from Sonic's interrogation. They knew who they were looking for, mainly because of the Lost Logia their devices could detect. And the accomplices were even easier as they held traces of the energy from the Lost Logia they helped steal.

"Jackpot.." Sonic snickered as he, Fate and Teana approached the group and called out "Time Space Administration"

"Uh-oh!" One surfer idiot gulped, "Time to, like totally BAIL!"

The supplier and accomplices split up into oddly enough, three groups. With the supplier running off on his own and the accomplices split into two groups for their attempted escape.

"Oh.. come on, Really?!" Sonic grumbled, "I'll take the supplier." and rushed off.

Fate and Teana split up and took little time and effort in arresting the chuckle-heads that dared run off on them.

"Hey, ladies.. I know you're, like, cute, but back off." one surfer told Fate, "Maybe if you do, I can charm a date from you."

"Oh so sorry." Fate eagerly declined as she formed a tight lightning bind on the group she captured, "But I'm married."

"And I'm already taken" Teana declined as arrested the other group, "And I wouldn't be caught dead with idiots such as yourselves."

Meanwhile, the supplier of the explosives tried to run away from his pursuing hedgehog of an Enforcer.

"Oy oy!" Sonic shouted as he all-too-easily closed the gap in a bored fashion with his speed, "I'm the fastest mage in the Bureau so don't even think of trying to outrun me.. This is not going to end well for you, buddy.. "

Like any other criminal who wasn't intelligent enough to listen to the speedy enforcer's request, the supplier tried to run away again, only to be tackled hard to the ground and subsequently arrested by the hedgehog.

"You're under arrest.." Sonic grumbled as he binded the supplier by his Ring Bind, "For a numerous amount of crimes. But most importantly, spoiling my vacation."

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ]  
[Late evening]  
[No BGM]**

After the arrest, Sonic, Teana and Fate ensured the suspects were properly processed. Their investigation over, they were allowed to head home until they were needed again.

The trio departed to their own destinations, Teana was heading home to say hello to Subaru, who she heard just returned from her rescue mission. While Sonic and Fate headed home to spend time with their kids. One thing was sure, they were glad they grabbed coats before they left, because a storm piled the snow on their way out.

Fate and Sonic drove home in the Artificial Mage's car, which they were thankful to have heated seats as well as a heater to keep themselves warm.

"So." Sonic broke any silence, "How did your talk with Alicia go?"

"It went well, actually." Fate's emotions were thoroughly expressed through her positive attitude, "In fact, better than I thought it would.. I told her most of the truth.. I didn't tell her about the Jewel Seeds yet.. I didn't feel they was too important.. The main point I was making was just letting her know who she is, who I am and why we weren't so different."

"And she accepted?" Sonic asked, "That's a surprise."

"At first she was confused and scared.. but we both consoled each other in our feelings." Fate replied sincerely, "She teased that she wouldn't be able to accept me as an imouto... But as a kaa-san because I'm older than her now."

"Well at least she accepts you there." Sonic snickered, "You know she did make a small shot at your age. I bet you're feeling old- ack!" he stopped when Fate playfully pinched his arm.

"You finish that sentence and I'll convince Nanoha to introduce our kids to "Sonic-mama".." Fate playfully threatened.

"You wouldn't.." Sonic tried to call Fate on a bluff.

"I would." the enforcer turned her attention back to driving with a smirk.

"_Uhoh.."_ Sonic mentally gulped, _"I remember the last time she had that smirk.. it ended a bit too interesting.." _In the best effort he could, the hedgehog made another saving effort, "Did I mention you look cute when you have that mischievous look?"

"Nice try" Fate countered while driving again.

* * *

**[Saint Church]**

Elsewhere, Rouge the Bat had just finished her first day at work of the Church. The work was menial at best, but there wasn't else the bat-thief could do about it. She made several mental notes after her introduction to the Church members as well as her Probation officer.

_-Flashback-_

_At the crack of dawn, Quint and Rouge, the former dressed in somewhat casual clothes while the latter was allowed into a work-out sweat outfit because her usual outfit was not allowed for obvious reasons, arrived at the large chapel-like building of the Saint Church._

_The first order of business, which the two took wasted no time in taking care of, was meeting with the probationary officer scheduled to be in charge of Rouge. With that, it was a few minutes walk to Hayayte's office._

_There they found the brunette commander and Living Lost Logia chatting with Carim Gracia, the head knight of the church._

"_Excuse us." Quint bowed politely as custom before entering the office._

"_Quint-san" Hayate greeted with a smile, "It's been awhile"_

"_Yeah. I've been so busy with work nowadays it's been hard to keep up with my own personal life." the woman giggled a bit, "Unfortunately I'm also here on business.."_

_Just then, the brunette took notice of the small anthropomorphic bat, "And who's this?"_

"_This is Rouge, she was caught stealing a Lost Logia from the museum and we arranged for her to plead out to a lesser theft crime in exchange for probation." Quint explained, "She's also from your world."_

"_Wait.." Rouge stopped in surprise, "You mean we come from the same world, Earth?"_

"_That's right" Hayate confirmed with a certain energetic vibe about her, "I'm Yagami Hayate. On Earth I lived in Uminari, Japan."_

"_I haven't paid too many visits to Japan, and even then it wasn't for leisure." the bat shrugged._

"_Work as in your thievery? Or your covert work as a GUN agent." the tone of the brunette suddenly grew suspicious, a bit too much so for the comfort of the bat._

"_Wait. How do you know about GUN?" Rouge asked in shock._

"_You could say a blue hedgehog told me much about all of his friends." Hayate explained._

"_Sonic?!" Rouge just blinked, "He's here?!"_

"_Been here for over four years."the brunette explained a bit, "Working as a mage for the Bureau, in addition he's also married now."_

"_Sonic the Hedgehog.. Married?! Ha!" Rouge laughed, "I hardly believe that someone as dense as that blue boy could actually get a knot tied. Hard to believe that there's someone short of that pink girly that could even think of trying it with him."_

_The bat could feel a dangerous, cold glare in her direction, and even shivered when Hayate spoke in a dark and threatening tone, "He's married to my two most treasured childhood friends. If you expect your probation to go smoothly you'd best stay on my good side.. And not-so-subtle insults about my friends choice of love is not a good start."_

"_R-right." The bat shivered in a rare display of fear, "S-sorry.."_

"_Perfect!" The brunette made a complete one-eighty in her attitude from the cold tone to a more optimistic one, "Let's get you started.. You'll do some chores around the church and help out any of the members that need it.. But before then, you'll need an outfit change."_

"_Why?" Rouge asked, "What's wrong with this or what I usually wear?"_

"_I saw pictures of your usual garb, quite frankly it's not suited for the environment, especially considering that the church also hosts a school for children learning magic." Hayate shook her head, "And sweats are good, but if you're working here, you gotta abide by a dress code to keep yourself in a good position with the Church."_

_Sure enough, the bat's work day was filled with menial work ranging from sweeping the floors, cleaning the kitchens and helping with the laundry. The outfit she had to wear was a maid dress, which while she was unhappy to be wearing an outfit like it, it was the only outfit the church happened to have left at the moment until they could get her a set of nun-robes._

_-Flashback End-_

The bat wiped some hard-earned sweat from her forehead in relief. It had been quite some time since she had to perform menial labor, and to be tasked with such labor was tiring for her to complete.

"Rouge?" Hayate called out, "If you're done come to my office."

"Hai!" the bat acknowledged in her usual manner, one which could not hide a bit of her own seductive tone.

"Hai what?" the brunette added suggestively.

"Hai Ma'am..." the bat sighed as she had to change her tone to one that showed respect, something she was not used to again.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

Sonic and Fate returned home just when the sun was beginning to crack in it's setting. They were greeted enthusiastically by their adopted kids Vivio and Alicia at the door.

"Welcome home, Fate-mama and Sonic-papa." the duo chorused cutely, which brought plenty of surprise to not only Sonic, but also Vivio for the fact that Alicia was starting to show more energy and be more happy in her new family environment.

"Yo! Vivio, Alicia." Sonic greeted, "Sorry we couldn't play with you today.. work was a bore."

"That bad?" Nanoha asked as she met her loves at the door with a brief hug for them both.

"Had to deal with idiot surfers that torched a warehouse just so some other idiot can try to make a quick buck on Lost Logia." the hedgehog snarked as him and Fate went inside with the door closed behind them.

"Well." Nanoha encouraged, "From what I saw on the reports, we can have a lot of fun tomorrow if you're not working."

"On our way back, I got a call from Hayate." Fate noted, "She said that Shadow and Shade are close to Mid-Childa and are available for investigations."

"Great!" Alicia and Vivio cheered.

"Well well." Sonic looked straight at Alicia, "Aren't you all cheery? Something good happened."

"Hai, Sonic-papa." Alicia smiled, "Something did.."

"Well good. Keep that smile." Sonic patted her on the head, "It suits you."

The young Testarossa kissed her papa on the cheek, "Thank you, I will."

"Mou, Alicia!" Vivio rushed to her sister's side and kissed the hedgehog's other cheek, "Share our papa!"

"Girls..." Fate and Nanoha stood above the trio in amusement, "Don't forget he's ours too."

"Hee hee hee.." the blue hedgehog snickered, "Yup..my life's surrounded by girls."

"That reminds me.." Fate suddenly said with a smirk and briefly whispered in Nanoha's ear for a few moments before the duo shared the same mischievous smile-look amongst one another.

"Oh, yes, that does sound perfect." Nanoha giggled as she sent the same mischievous look down to her husband.

"Uhoh.." Sonic gulped again.

"Nanoha-mama?" Vivio asked, "Why are you looking at Sonic-papa like that?"

"Oh nothing, Vivio." Nanoha answered with a snicker, "Nothing yet at least.."

Alicia just shrugged in a bit of obliviousness, unsure of whatever non-vocal communication was said between them all.

With that marked the end of one day, but another was just a few hours away.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Hayate's Cosplay Surprise]**

Hayate gathered Sonic, Fate and Nanoha at the church to show them a surprise. To ensure that this moment wouldn't be missed, she had cameras installed for pictures.

"Well guys." the brunette announced as she stood in front of a red curtain, "I'm proud to present a new member of my cosplay connection."

With a pull of the string, the cosplay queen opened the curtains to reveal Rouge the Bat, dressed in an all leather outfit that revealed quite a bit of her skin and attractive points. In addition, the outfit put some emphasis on her chest and wings. Rouge herself was quite embarrassed in having to wear such a revealing outfit, kinda odd considering her usual garb wasn't any better.

"Rouge the Succubus!" Hayate gave the model a title, "Doesn't she look so sexy?"

"Heh heh." Sonic snickered, "Welcome to Mid-Childa, Rouge."

"Thanks..." the bat-dressed-as-a-succubus sneered, "Just what I need.."

"Wow, Hayate-chan." Nanoha gazed, "You outdone yourself here."

"Agreed." Fate added.

Carim stood up to the stage and also admired the work, "There's one thing missing though." the head knight held out a whip prop and had the bat hold it and make a pose, "Much better."

"I still have much to learn." Hayate clapped in awe, "My great master."

No matter how good Hayate can do, Carim can always find a way to one-up her.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 20]**

Author's Notes: Any guesses what could be planned by Sonic's wives that could make the hedgehog suddenly so fearful... Not saying much, though a hint is that it's obviously done before.. and if it was a success, then Nanoha wouldn't agree to it.. It's nothing that'll damage their relationships though, so that's one thing to keep in mind, it'll just make it more interesting.


	21. Record 21

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record.. well for those waiting tosee what kind of evil punishment Fate and Nanoha have in store, wait no longer.. here comes another chapter.. The omake here will be fun.

* * *

**]TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[No BGM]**

Many things have gone right for the Takamachi household to enjoy this particular day, the storm had blessed their neighborhood with fresh powder in the back yard, and the Enforcer duo of Sonic and Fate were already called and told that they didn't have to report in.

Vivio and Alicia, already woken bright and early in anticipation for all the fun they could have with their parents, stood patiently waiting outside the master bedroom door.

"Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama, Sonic-papa!" Vivio pouted in a bit of impatience, "Are you done yet? Vivio and Alicia wanna play!"

"We'll be right out, Vivio-chan." Nanoha called back.

"We're just finishing up on getting Sonic-papa ready." Fate added.

"Oy. Oy! Nanoha, Fate do we really have to do this?" they could hear Sonic ask, "And show the girls?"

"Oh you worry too much, Sonic-kun." Nanoha teased, "I think they'll find you cute"

"We do." Fate's voice was loud and clear.

"Nee, Vivio?" Alicia asked, "What are they doing in there?"

"I don't know." the young kaiser shrugged, "But if Sonic-kun's not happy about it, they're probably doing something similar to Hayate-oba-chan."

Sure enough, when Nanoha and Fate were ready, they opened the master bedroom door to reveal their husband, only dressed up cutely in a girly snow jacket with gloves and boots to match, the embarrassment was clear as the hedgehog's lightly pink-tinted face.

Both Alicia and Vivio couldn't help but giggle in enjoyment, to Vivio, her parent's hilarity was always funny to see, and a bit of a stress relief. As for Alicia, she was able to have some enjoyment to her life, something that has been missing for quite some time.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 21  
Interlude to new beginnings

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[BGM: "Macalania Forest" FFX OST]**

After the hilarity settled, the family enjoyed a nice warm breakfast before going outside to play in the fresh powder. The trio of parents took a moment to talk while the girls were busy throwing snow at one another.

"Did you really have to dress me up in girls clothing so we can all play?!" The hedgehog groaned in annoyance.

"You're lucky we didn't decide to use make-up, Sonic-kun." Nanoha countered, "Next time, choose your words better."

"Oh right.." Sonic comically groaned, one of the downsides to his marriage, his wives don't mind dressing him up as a girl for either punishment or on a whim if they felt like it, in this case it was punishment, "Yeaaah.."

"Besides," Fate added, "The girls don't seem to mind."

"That's because Vivio's seen it dozens of times back when we were active at Riot Force 6" Sonic noted in reference to their former unit, "As for Alicia.. I have no idea"

"Probably because it's fun." the enforcer shrugged, "Remember it's been a long time since she's been able to have this much of it.."

"Oh yeah." Sonic nodded, "Come to think of it, we all haven't had this chance yet. Work's been almost endless.. Case after case."

"I know.." Nanoha sighed, "It'll be great to kick back and enjoy the time off while we can."

As if on cue, the trio were bombarded by snowballs, no doubt their kids wanted to drag them into having a little bit of fun.

"Very funny.." Fate chuckled softly in her amusement.

"Come on!" The duo of Fate and Alicia chorused, "Play with us!"

"Oh so that's how it is eh?" Sonic quickly readied two snowballs, "Okay, we'll play!"

The hedgehog threw the snowballs at his kids, they were well-aimed, and did not miss their targets, which were the girls' shoulders. Nanoha and Fate joined in and threw their own snowballs that they made. Unfortunately, the girls took refuge behind a snow-fort at that time.

"Oy! Oy!" Sonic jokingly commanded, "Quick, build forts, I'll keep the girls busy."

"Right!" Fate and Nanoha went to work on a small fort for themselves, while Sonic diverted the kids with a volley of snowballs.

The family's fun was further emphasized by the giggles and laughs they echoed around, on the one day they could enjoy themselves, they did it without any regret.

* * *

**[Crime Scene about 50 miles away]  
[No BGM]**

Unfortunately, not everyone was allowed to enjoy such a holiday. Shadow and Shade in particular had to endure the cold snowy weather as they investigated a scene. The whole scene was bloody, with the source of it being an unconscious and wounded body.

Shadow inspected the body, "Male, Caucasian, mid-twenties, looks like he was shot through the chest. Lucky to be alive.. Any closer to his heart and it would have killed him..."

Shade checked the man's bare knuckles for any signs of blood, only to find none, "No signs of a struggle. Looks like he was caught by surprise."

"This was an accident.." Shadow noted.

"How could you tell that?" Shade asked.

The ebony hedgehog noted, "I could feel it from the leftover mana.. any professional would have been able to suppress their mana and have more control. In this case, the residue here.. it's erratic, panicked, and left behind in a trail.

The echidna and hedgehog duo followed the trail a couple of miles before it ended at a nearby dumpster. They found a woman who was identified as the source, hugging her knees and crying so hard her sobs could have been heard miles away thanks to the echoes.

"It was an accident.. an accident" was repeated by the distraught woman, blonde, around the same age as her victim.

Shadow sighed and knelt down softly as to show no signs of being hostile, a good thing to, otherwise he could have triggered something, "Easy there.. We're with the Bureau."

The woman turned to face the enforcers, tears drying up from her face, "I didn't mean to kill him.. I loved him.. but we had an argument and I lost my temper.."

"Your boyfriend's not dead." Shade calmed her, "He's being escorted to a hospital as we speak."

"Can I see him?" the woman asked, "I want to apologize.. Usually I have better control, but somehow I lost it.."

"First.. we'll have to take you in. then interview you and your boyfriend for the full story." Shadow noted, "If all checks out, then we'll see what happens from there."

The woman nodded and surrendered herself to the Enforcers.

* * *

**[Saint Church]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

"Understood, thank you Shadow-kun, Shade-chan." Hayate nodded from her end of the video call, "Give me an update when you learn more."

"Yes ma'am!" The ebony hedgehog and orange echidna saluted and ended the call.

"Looks like dear old Shadow's still hard at work." Rouge commented as she cleaned the floor of her probationary officer's office, "Just like old times.."

"He's a workaholic.." Hayate explained, "Like my friends and myself.. while that trait is admirable in the Bureau, it's also dangerous, and a headache to the medical personnel."

"Why?" the bat questioned.

"It almost killed one of my closest friends ten years ago." the brunette's tone grew serious.

"Oh.." Rouge looked down, she knew when to stop on a topic, and this was probably the best point to do so and try to change the topic, "So tell me, who are the lucky ladies married to blue boy?"

"Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa-Harlaown." Hayate started, "Both of them I've known for ten years. Met them on Earth, Nanoha was born there as was I, Fate was visiting.. They've known each other for a couple of months before they met me."

"How long have they known Sonic?" the bat asked.

"The three of us met him four years ago when he literally dropped from a wormhole in the sky." the brunette retold her story of how her friends and Sonic had that faithful encounter that set so many events in motion.

"So Eggman's here too?" Rouge asked.

"Yes.." Hayate confirmed, "Last I checked he was awaiting trial.. hopefully he hasn't escaped before then.. He's done it before, but this time we've doubled our security."

"Good luck with that." the bat thief shrugged, "That old guy's escaped so many arrests by GUN, they find it hard to keep track of him."

"You're not going to believe the mountain of charges we have on him.. some of them are just silly too" Hayate giggled.

"Like what?" Rouge asked.

"First time he came here, Fate had him busted for, amongst the minor crimes, flying in a no-fly zone. It's a crime because it's for the safety of those using magic freely and to avoid collisions with aircraft of bureau personnel" the brunette added in humor

"They really have something silly as that a rule?" Rouge blinked.

"They shouldn't.. but like most warning signs, someone stupid had to come along and set an example" Hayate sighed, "What I want to know is who would be stupid enough to run into an airplane while flying?"

"I dunno" the brunette shrugged, "The only idiots I know run around in capes and tights."

The two continued their conversation over some warm tea.

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ: Enforcer Department]  
[No BGM]**

Shadow sat across from the woman from the crime scene, now identified as a private of the Bureau's ground forces. Shade had opted to interview the boyfriend at the hospital.

"How long have you and your boyfriend dated?" the ebony hedgehog asked, quite calmly.

"A few years on-and-off.." the woman answered.

"You fight a lot?" Shadow asked in hopes to figure out what kind of relationship the victim and private had.

"Well. I kept jumping to conclusions too often.. and they often lead to me losing my temper.. they were ultimately my fault and I reacted wrongly." the private held her head in embarrassment.

"Doesn't really answer my question." The ebony hedgehog huffed in impatience, "Did you two fight?"

"Yes we do.. I always start it.." The private sighed, "but, he can be so forgiving.. he puts up with my attitude."

Shadow gave an inward groan, which was, thankfully, inaudible to the private, "Go through what happened earlier.."

"Well I saw my boyfriend come out of the nearby bar, and I jumped to the conclusion that he was drinking and probably getting some other action from another girl." the woman explained.

"What gave you that idea?" the hedgehog noted, "A lot of men spend time in bars, mosto f the time its for their sports fix."

"And I thought he was drinking..." the private noted.

"Blood alcohol tests came up negative." The ebony hedgehog denied.

"And.. I lost it.. I freaked out and hit him with a shooting spell." the girl cried, "I didn't mean to.."

"Happens sometimes when one's temper gets the better of them." Shadow noted and left the room.

Just then he received a call from Shade, "You heard my recordings of the suspect's interview? How did the victim react? His side?"

Shade responded formally, "He confirms the relationship, and he also confirms her story.. his side was that he went to the bar to ask for tips on how to propose."

"Since there was no intent involved, unless he wants to press charges, we can't hold her.." Shadow noted.

"He's not going to press. I asked him, he says he wants to see her.. and propose.. oddly enough." Shade just raised her palm to her forehead, "I'll never get this kind of thing"

"Neither will I.." the hedgehog did the same, "I'll bring her over.."

After the call ended, Shadow wen to take the "suspect' to her "victim's" hospital room, where he and Shade witnessed a proposal.. which was oddly accepted.

The enforcer duo returned to write up a report on a rather, odd investigation.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

The family settled down for some hot chocolate to warm up after their fun in the snow. Nanoha had a recipe she got from her family that she was dying to try out. With her mix of specially made Hot Chocolate ready, she poured and served it amongst her family.

"Tell me how it tastes" Nanoha asked as she sat down with her own mug.

As asked, her family took a small collective sip from their mugs, serenity and peace filled their faces as they enjoyed their warm delightful drink.

"It's great, Nanoha!" Sonic and Fate chimed.

"Mhm!" the duo of Alicia and Vivio added.

"Thank you." Nanoha smiled, "Next time I get ahold of my family back home, I'll tell them they can run the recipe through the cafe"

"So, we're your family's test dummies?" Sonic snickered

"I'd hate to think your family gave us anything dangerous, Nanoha." Fate added to a joke.

"Oh you two," Nanoha giggled,

"It tastes very good, Nanoha-mama" Vivio deadpanned at her other two parents.

"Very!" Alicia added energetically.

"Thank you, Vivio, Alicia." Nanoha smiled and sent a tease to her lovers, "At least our kids know when to be serious."

"Meh.." Sonic shrugged, "Fate and I've been doing bureau work all week. I think we earned a little bit of fun."

"Not that we needed it, but the paycheck's never been higher." Nanoha shrugged, "Besides.. didn't Hayate order you to take the day off?"

"And she hasn't ordered you to take a vacation?" Sonic asked, referring to the week his wife had off.

"Mou..." Nanoha pouted, "I miss work.."

"You're arguably the worse workaholic out of all of us, Nanoha." Fate noted, "and it has gotten you into trouble, Hayate-chan's just concerned."

"But she lets you two work.. as well as Shadow too.." Nanoha argued.

"Because Shadow's in charge of Shade during her probation." Fate retorted, "and Teana's working as our aide, so the more cases we go on... no matter how silly they can get.." the enforcer frowned, "The more experience she'll get and she'll be able to climb up the ranks faster."

"Not much I can do about that.." Nanoha frowned only for the frown to turn upside-down in a wide smile, "Okay time for dinner!"

"Haaaai!" The others chimed energetically

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ: Enforcer's Department]**

As the duo checked out, Shadow and Shade ran into Teana and exchanged a couple of words.

"Enforcer Shadow." Teana smiled a bit in greeting.

"Aide Teana.." The ebony hedgehog calmly replied, "How goes your training?"

"Sonic-san and Fate-san had me run my own investigation with them watching over." the young aide recalled, "We dealt with a couple of surfer idiots trying to blow up a warehouse so a guy can make a quick buck on Lost Logia."

"Mid-Childa's got the oddest cases apparently." Shade noted, "We just closed a case about a woman accidentally wounding her boyfriend.. only for said boyfriend to not only apologize, but propose.."

"We ran into an old friend of yours." Teana noted, "Rouge the Bat was arrested for stealing a Lost Logia."

"We better make sure GUN's informed then.." The ebony hedgehog noted, "Otherwise they'll take exception to their top spy arrested"

"The Saint Church is a few miles away." the young aide frowned, "Would it be okay to call Hayate-san?"

"Already doing that.." The hedgehog, like his blue rival, liked to be a step ahead, and sure enough a feed was established to Hayate's office. Where the brunette answered alone.

"Something the matter, Shadow?" Hayate asked.

"I've been recently informed that the Bureau arrested Rouge the Bat.." Shadow noted, "and I happen to know for a fact that GUN thinks of her as their top asset..I hope they've been informed of this"

"Now that you mention it.." the brunette thought out loud, "I did have to inform an Abraham Tower.. I got an earful, apparently Rouge was investigating the disappearances of Sonic and Eggman.. thankfully I explained everything to him and warned him to mind his tongue.. otherwise dangerous results could happen."

"Funny.." the hedgehog smirked, "Thanks for the information.."

"You come by later and I'll show you what work I've put their top spy in.." the brunette on the video feed smirked, "you won't regret it."

"Will do.." Shadow held the smirk still

"If that's all there's more paperwork for me to do." Hayate attempted to end the conversation there so she could return to work.

"Now you know what we have to do daily, Commander." the ebony hedgehog smirked as he closed the feed off.

"I heard that there could be a test coming up for you, Teana." Shadow turned his attention to his former aide, "Of course you'll need the recommendation from your current superiors."

"If they feel I should get the chance then I'll be glad to take it." the guns-woman noted, "But if they feel I have more to learn I'll respect their decision either way."

"That's a good attitude to take." The hedgehog encouraged in his usual tone, "Keep it that way and you'll progress far."

"Thank you sir." Teana saluted her superior and dismissed herself.

The rest of the night went peacefully for everyone. Hayate finished up her paperwork, Teana was again reunited with Subaru at their shared apartment. Finally, the Takamachi parenting trio tucked their kids into bed and went into their own room for fun and later sleep.

**[End of main chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Sonic's family hilarity]**

Vivio and Alicia waited patiently, they were promised a surprise that they'll find quite cute. Only Nanoha and Fate had promised them, so Vivio had to guess that it involved Sonic-papa in something cute or embarrassing like her Hayate-oba-chan used to put him in.

The door opened and out came their surprise, which was their papa in a cute maid's outfit, blushing up a storm.

Nanoha and Fate giggled a bit as they showed off their work, while they weren't experts like Hayate, they did do good enough with make-up and cute shoes and such.

Alicia couldn't help but giggle in humor, "Sonic-papa.. what did you do to get stuck in that cute dress?"

"Not watching what I say" the hedgehog groaned, as if he was told to say that, which in truth he was.

Vivio giggled as well, "Sonic-papa, you really should know better by now.."

"Oh very funny, Vivio.." Sonic groaned again, he really didn't like this.

"Could be worse." Nanoha noted.

"We could have enlisted Hayate's help." Fate added, "Then again, it would take the fun out of our hands."

Very true.. Hayate could do much worse.. but there is one who can do worse than her.. Carim!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 21]**

Author's Notes: Aaaaand have a happy new year everybodies!


	22. Record 22

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another Lyrical Record chapter.. Sorry for the long delay, I had to re-type both my updates because they were corrupted by Open Office somehow, it got a problem.. I'm not using it anymore.. so it's back to Word I go.. Haven't used it in over a year about, oh well… anyways, here we go!

* * *

Two years past since the incident regarding the Nocturnus and Ix, there have been no signs of the Imperator or his clan's return. Eggman's been laying low too, so not much on that front either. Improvements have happened though. Teana has been fully promoted to Enforcer, and has her own "Aide". She still takes missions with Fate and Sonic though from time to time.

Shade's rehabilitation went very well, she's taken residence in Angel Island, although there have been some funny rumors of a relationship between the two echidnas, there has been no official confirmation, and when asked, they both deny it very quickly, but they haven't been able to give a coherent answer to some rumors of odd noises that resembled moaning coming from the island at night.

Speaking of rumors, though the higher-ups of the Bureau were quick to deny, a news report put a serious mention to a rumor that the TSAB has secretly begun testing echidna DNA and cloning through the shut-down Project "F". Though there has been no confirmation, the rumor stuck.

The story continues

Nanoha Takamachi narrated, _"In ages past, there was a great war. A war that lasted for centuries without end: The Ancient Belka War. In the end of that war, the ancient homeland of Belka became a land where no one could live. A forgotten war._

_During the course of this war, many lives and possibilities were stolen away, but at the same time, it gave birth to many other things. Original magic and technology, as well as weapons and arms. The things that disappeared and remain only as abominable memories and things that have succeeded from them._

_It became an era without large conflicts and has been eighty years since the start of the new calendar era. The world in general is very peaceful but the numbers of incidents and disasters have not diminished, and even now there are people who continue to fight the war._

_Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record is about to begin"_

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 22  
Mysterious Murderers, the Mariage

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Shopping Center]  
[BGM: "Strain" Sonic Adventure]**

An explosion broke out from the large shopping mall, a TSAB strike team of mages were sent out to investigate the arson.

The mage in charge talked to a female mage who saw to the evacuation of the mall by the guards.

"Sir!" a mage called the attention of the officer in charge, "We found the source of the detonation. It's on the 27th floor of the shopping center."

"The guards evacuated almost everyone." The woman added but voiced concern, "Other than the criminal, there's one person unaccounted for."

"What?!" The commander cried out, then frowned in determination, "That's it! We're going in!"

* * *

**[Shopping Center: 27****th**** Floor]**

The criminal mentioned turned out to be a masked woman who stood at around 175 cm (5'9 appx), she wore a mask and armor. She cornered a male victim and held him up for a harsh interrogation.

"Wha! What the hell are you?!" The male victim cried out in fear.

"Please answer me. You have no other option." The woman asked, at least in a polite tone.

"I told you! I don't know what you're talking about!" The male cried out, only for the cries to become those of pain as he was slapped in the face and punched in the gut, "GAH! GAH!"

"We only wish to know the location of Ix. You should know where." The woman interrogated sternly.

"I don't know! I really don't know!" the male cried in fear once more

"Very well then, then who might know?" The woman interrogated further, when she heard no other valid response she glared, "Then you've outlived your usefulness."

"Ah. AHHHH!" The male gave out one last cry until he died.

Several seconds later, the area around the mysterious armored woman was surrounded by TSAB mages, the cry of the victim proved to be useful as the location was determined.

"Don't move!" The officer in charge ordered, "This is the TSAB!"

"Times have changed." The woman observed sagely, "Soldiers of this era are completely different.."

"We have you surrounded! Release your hostage and surrender immediately!" The veteran officer in charge ordered, "Or else we fire."

"Left arm katana morph." The woman spoke without emotion as her left arm literally changed shape to form a katana sword.

"Fire!" The mage ordered and a blast of magic bullets was unleashed, sadly the attack failed as they were all deflected by the katana, "What the?! She deflected them?!"

"You shall become a grave for our mistress Ix.." The woman aggressively charged into battle against the mages, all of them who screamed

* * *

**[Hours later: Shopping mall crime scene]  
[BGM: "The Red Wings" Final Fantasy IV]**

A woman, blonde, mid-30s, very attractive and wearing glasses, reported what she could from the scene, "This is Midchilda MBC News. We are at the scene of the crime at a large department store Firize by coastline. From the 27th floor, we can see smoke rising/escaping from the windows. We're still not sure of the extent of the damage but there has been an explosion in the 27th floor event hall. One male victim has been confirmed dead. The hall had been convening an antique art exhibition and the man had been involved with the art exhibition…"

A TSAB Helicopter flew by the location of the department store, something that the news camera got, "Ah, that's an Armed Forces helicopter flying up there! It looks like that this is no accident. A similar string of terrorist incidents has happened on Faurus and Weizen, whether there is a connection or not, hasn't been confirmed. We are waiting for a TSAB announcement/statement. The recent string of terrorist incidents have.."

**[Helicopter]**

Inside the Helicopter that flew by the news reporter were Sonic Takamachi, Ginga Nakajima, both detectives for the TSAB. The hedgehog was officially regarded as an Investigator/Detective during his tenure with his wife Fate. Piloting the helicopter was Alto Krauetta, an old friend from their Riot Force 6 days as well as a helicopter pilot for the 108th Batallion, who dispatched the detectives to the scene the duo also were responsible for some negotiations that they finished, now they were en route back.

Alto groaned in annoyance as she tuned out the report to the background and focused on conversing with her friends, "Jeez.. it's great that the TV crews are so quick with their job, but I sure hope that they're cooperating with the news restrictions."

What the 17 year old was referring to was a set of restrictions the Bureau placed on the news media with the enforcement of the courts. The restrictions were that the media was not allowed to broadcast anything that would appear to be confidential or "need to know" without the expressed consent of the Bureau, that rule doesn't apply to opinion shows however, as the hosts involved there are merely expressing their entitled opinion.

"Well they're only doing their jobs to the best of their abilities with what they have available." Ginga smiled a bit.

"Yeah, and I kinda like these reporters and some of their shows," Sonic added, "Most of the time they're very solid on their reporting."

"Yeah.." Alto noted, "Detective Sonic, Detective Ginga, what do you two think of the incident?"

"Well the murder methods.. The descriptions of the assailants, as well as the damage and situation all appear consistent with the Weizen and Faurus cases." Sonic pointed out, "Ginga and I have had our own chances at checking out the scenes too.. They all seem connected."

'That.." Ginga added, "Or it's all a big coincidence."

"I don't believe in coincidences." The blue hedgehog was quick to shoot that theory down, "There must be a connection… a group involved."

"Group?" Ginga asked.

"Hai.." The hedgehog nodded seriously as he leaned back against the wall of the helicopter, "The amount of damage, the murders, it's too much for just one person. My gut tells me it's a whole group and they're connected somehow."

"Well I hope it's connected." Alto noted, "If it's possible, I don't want to go through another major incident like what happened three years ago."

"Yeah.. the Jail Scaglietti incident.." Sonic frowned, "That one hit personal notes for almost all of us.. Some of us had to fight those we didn't want to.." the incident brought memories back of the hedgehog forced to fight Emerl in order to save the robot.

"Yeah… me too.." Ginga nodded, the incident in question also brought back memories of her having to fight her brainwashed and dangerous younger sister, "Me too.."

"Well we should solve it before it gets that serious." Sonic announced, "Oh boy.. I'm gonna hear this one from Nanoha at home.."

Alto tuned out the detectives in the background to go to her radio on the helicopter, "This is the 108th Ground Forces. JX705, unit 1. Requesting permission to land. Over"

"This is the Helipad, we have you on radar, Clearance request granted. Land on the number 2 landing panel." A man's voice answered back.

"Roger. Number 2 landing panel." Alto confirmed as she took her helicopter into a descent onto the landing pad.

"Hmm For a serial case like this." Ginga noted thoughtfully, "The HQ usually deploys both Detectives and Enforcers to investigate. Maybe we could coordinate with the Enforcers."

Sonic nodded at his partner, "That's the first thing we are going to do when we get back. Odds are, the Enforcers are going to be rounding up details on the murder victims themselves. Working the case from an opposite end, we'll coordinate with them and see what they have to report."

"Right." Ginga nodded in return as the duo disembarked from their helicopter.

* * *

**[An un-named planet]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X]**

The Enforcers who were assigned the case in question were Teana Lanster, now an Enforcer for the Time-Space Administration, and her aide, who has done her own investigating into this case, Runessa Magnus, a serious-looking late-teen with dirty blonde hair and purple eyes. Her uniform was all black, very much resembling that of Enforcers, or at least the aide of one. Runessa's notable specializations were autopsy, research and marksmanship. This would mark Teana's first case with Runessa as her usual aide, Shade the Echidna, was reassigned to help Shadow out on another unrelated investigation

Runessa read off a report, "The male victim is Coleru MacBrad. A university graduate researcher specializing in ancient civilization. He has no official criminal record but has been under suspicion and investigation for illegal excavation in legally protected historical sites and the resale of Lost Logias."

"So in other words." Teana concluded, "The same as the others?"

"The victims and patrol officer killed so far, yes." Runessa nodded, "It must be the Mariage

"If that's that you say, Rune." The orange-head enforcer shrugged, "Then it's probably true, you've been investigating this case longer than I have."

"Thank you very much." Rune nodded, "I'm honored."

"Any investigation teams on the scene?" Tia asked.

"The Port Security Forces have deployed, but the negotiators are investigators from the ground forces." Rune pulled up display screens of Sonic and Ginga, "They are these two. Detective Sonic Takamachi and Detective Ginga Nakajima."

"Oh, Sonic-kun and Ginga.." Teana giggled a bit.

"You know them?" Runessa questioned.

"Yes, quite well in fact." Teana smiled, "We used to be part of the same squad, Sonic-kun was my superior in Stars ."

"So I guess it was fine for the negotiations to be left for them?" Rune asked

"It shouldn't be a problem." The orange-haired girl nodded, "Sonic's good at convincing people. Anyways, have you prepared for our arrival to Mid?"

Rune confirmed, "I got our flight tickets and lodgings upon the arrival arranged. A simple change of clothes and personal effects have been packaged. If there's other small carryon items requited, I can go back to the dorm and pick them up.

"That's all right." Teana waved her hand dismissively, "Can we leave immediately?"

"Any time you want." Rune confirmed.

"Okay." The enforcer declared, "We'll head out now. Our location is in Mid-Childa's southern capital city. Enforcer Runessa Magnua, my assistant, let's continue our investigation there!"

"Yes ma'am!" Runessa saluted in respect to her senior partner's higher rank, "Enforcer Teana Lanster."

The duo, with nothing to hold them back, went off on their plane bound for Mid-Childa and their investigation.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Runessa "I talk to myself a lot" Magnus]**

Teana was excited to hear about a new aide for her. She and Rune scouted out their first crime scene together, a memorable moment for some, but also one where she can learn more about her partner.

Rune scouted out the scene, but instead of jotting down notes, she just thought them out loud, "Let's see.. male white, middle aged.." the details went on and on, some of which included a pre-autopsy examination.

Teana was a bit weirded out, but she let it slide for the moment.

Later she went to see how Rune was doing in her other specialization, autopsies.

"What do you have Runessa?" the enforcer asked.

And her aide rifled off detail after detail, she also mixed in some thoughts to herself about the body, a little too much detail for Teana's liking.

"Um.. Runessa, why do you talk to yourself a lot?" she asked, "Can't you take notes?"

"Helps me remember better.." Rune answered as she continued to list out details of the autopsy.

"And yet she wonders why she's still single.." Teana deadpanned…

Runessa Maguns's good looks can only take her so far.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 22]**

Author's Notes: Another year, another new story arc. This one's gonna get interesting so stay tuned! It's good to be back.. and I'm feeling a lot better after a week of fighting the damn flu.


	23. Record 23

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the Sound Stage X arc of Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record, well I realize that these chapters may not be as big as the Knight of the Night Sky because I'm going off of a game versus for the sound stages, I just can get the dialogue and use the wiki for visuals. Still I'll do my best. And also, Spring Semester has started for my Community College and I'm taking a few classes. No more delays, time to get it started!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Harbor Security Forces HQ]  
[BGM: "Welcome to Station Square" Sonic Adventure]**

Upon their landing on Mid-Childa, Teana and Ruenessa went to the harbor security headquarters along the coast, where the Gulf Special Rescue Unit resided. When they arrived, they found a male tour guide giving some younger children a tour of the headquarters.

"We at the Harbor Security Forces maintain our presence at the coast, ports and coastal cities to preserve peace and safety." The tour guide explained to the eager children, then pointed to several officers who stood at attention; he also made sure to point out the differences between each officer, "These are the uniformed patrol officers you often see and these are the fire fighters and disaster relief officers who are deployed at fires and disasters. Broadly speaking, the members of our department can be divided between these two types. Okay, now that you know, does anyone have any questions?"

The kids were full of energy in their responses, "Yes!" "Me too!" "I have a question!"

Runessa glanced at the scene before her and her senior partner and blinked, "Social Studies field trip?"

"I guess." Teana shrugged, "They look like third graders."

The duo met up with their contact, the commander of the Gulf Special Rescue Unit; Voltz Stan, a hardened veteran, he was a tall man with spikey medium length brown hair, his attire consisted of a roughly casual shirt and tie with jeans under a somewhat heavy jacket.

"Oy!" Voltz greeted the duo, only to frown a bit when he realized there were only two mages present, "Huh? Where's Takamachi and Nakajima?"

"Ginga sent us a message earlier" Teana explained, "Said they'd be late for some reason."

"Jeez.." The man groaned, then also realized his lack of introduction, "Oh right, excuse me, I'm the Commander of the Gulf Special Recue Unit, Voltz Stan."

Teana nodded, "I'm Enforcer Teana Lanster. This is my aide." She indicated Rune, and gestured for an introduction.

"Ruenessa Magnus" The girl introduced herself politely.

Voltz took a moment to think, the names rang a bell, "I've heard of you two… Lanster's previous unit, Riot Force 6 comes to mind. Word travels around… and despite how young you both are, you're both extremely professional in your duties."

"We're still novices" Teana smiled a bit in modesty.

"A good attitude to have" Voltz complimented

At that point, Sonic and Ginga showed up, both out of breath; the duo of detectives looked like they sprinted over to the meeting point.

"Sorry…" Ginga panted, "We're late…"

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 23  
Investigation, Cooperation, Reunion

* * *

**[Harbor Security Forces HQ]  
[BGM: "Welcome to Station Square" Sonic Adventure]**

Sonic and Ginga finally arrived at the rendezvous point. They were at the headquarters in order to attend to a debriefing about the recent developments in a long case they were working on. The blue hedgehog was quite peeved over the circumstances that led to their tardiness.

"Sorry we're late" Sonic's eyes twitched a bit, "We had some parking trouble"

"I thought you arrived by helicopter" Voltz raised an eyebrow, hoping for some explanation.

"We did" the hedgehog's annoyance was obvious in his tone, "But those idiots at the heli-pad apparently missed that Alto-chan's helicopter was registered for clearance to land. So they had to delay our landing for at least a half an hour before we were finally cleared!"

"I probably should have mentioned that we had interns here for training today…" Voltz slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Oh! Interns! Now he tells us." Sonic threw his arms up, "Oy!"

Ginga smiled a bit in amusement and calmly placed her hand on the hedgehog's forehead to act as a voice of reason, "Calm down, Sonic-kun, it's not their fault."

"It's been a while, Sonic-kun, Ginga-san." Teana smiled, "How have you been?"

"Pretty good" The hedgehog shrugged, "Nanoha's been working, but when the girls aren't in school one of us isn't on the job someone's gotta stay home to watch them, with this case and Fate's Enforcer duties piling up, Nanoha's been a bit grumpy stuck at home."

"We're trying our best to get it solved." Teana giggled in amusement, "And you, Ginga-san?"

"I'm doing fine; my new siblings are adjusting well." Ginga answered in reference to the combat cyborgs Cinque, Nove, Wendi and Dieci; all who were adopted, "It helps that kaa-san has so much experience in dealing with combat cyborgs."

The blue blur just sighed, "Anyways… What's up Voltz?"

"Afraid I'll have to leave you" Voltz said regretfully, "I'm not going to be able to attend to this debriefing, but I'll give you, Takamachi, and you, Nakajima, authority to mobilize and order the patrols."

"Understood" Sonic nodded.

"Send me a report on how the investigation goes later, I'd appreciate that." Voltz requested.

"(I) Just sent a report of the case up to this point to your desk" Sonic answered, "Hopefully the interns haven't gotten to it first." The blue hedgehog was still a bit ticked off at the landing drama from before.

"I'll take a look at it" Voltz dismissed himself, but not before shouting off a final "Good luck"

* * *

**[Lounge Area in the base]  
[BGM: "Luca" Final Fantasy X]**

The group of four settled down in a "wreck" room on the base; it had a couch, table and kettle suitable to make any warm beverage and a television set. A perfect room for relaxation, or what Sonic, Ginga, Runessa and Teana had opted to do, catch up with one another.

"Teana" Ginga finally had the chance to say, "It's been far too long!"

"It has been, Ginga-san" Teana nodded

"You look like you're adjusting to being an Enforcer quite well." The elder Nakajima sister

Teana was a bit modest, "I'm still in training though.."

"You've become so great though because of it." Ginga complimented with a smile, "I'm happy for you."

"So.." Sonic glanced at Runessa, "You gonna introduce us, or am I doomed to stare at a somewhat suspicious face without a name?"

"Oh right." Teana realized she didn't introduce her partner, "I knew I sent you guys an email about this.. but I never actually introduced you to her.."

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance" Runessa spoke politely, "I am Enforcer Runessa Magnus"

"Nice to meet ya girly" Sonic gave a friendly reply, "Investigator Sonic Takamachi"

"Investigator Ginga Nakajima" Ginga introduced herself as well. She walked over to the kettle, "Why don't you two go sit down and I'll make some tea. Sonic-kun, would you like some?"

"Hai" the three asked sat down, soon joined by Ginga, the four each had their own cup of freshly brewed, warm tea.

"It's a big help to our investigation that we know who the head Investigator is" Teana commented, thankful that Sonic, who along with Fate was a mentor in her Enforcer training whenever Shadow wasn't around, was in the lead of the investigation.

"It certainly is" the hedgehog joked, "Now I get to boss you around some more"

"The last time the three of us worked together." Ginga thought for a moment, "Was the Nocturnus incident, two years ago."

"Yeah, sorry you didn't see too much action on that one." Sonic apologized, "It was nice having you around."

"Cinque, Nove and Sein were there." Ginga noted her point, "I'm a combat cyborg too; so I think my presence there on that ship was something that helped them out.

"Yeah, because you and your parents are running their rehabilitation" Teana added truthfully, "

"Anyways," Sonic leaned forward, "Let's get down to business.. The sooner we get this investigation done, the better"

Before they could get to work, a familiar strip of magic pathway formed outside the window of the area they were in. Sonic checked to see what was going on and was given the pleasant surprise of seeing Subaru. The younger of the Nakajima combat cyborgs was in the middle of a demonstration.

"Ara?" Ginga, Rune and Teana all went to see what got the hedgehog's attention.

* * *

**[Outside]  
[BGM: "Twilight Circuit" Sonic Adventure]**

Subaru Nakajima, now part of the Gulf Special Rescue Unit, gave a quick demonstration of her abilities to the young third-graders who were on a tour of the facility. The cyborg showed a variety of her skills, ranging from her speed, turning, dash, cornering and the one thing that Sonic was drilling into her head for all those months at Riot Force 6; braking.

The male tour guide clapped his hands in a show of how impressed he was, "Okay, now that we've seen some of her amazing abilities, let's listen to what this officer has to say. Name and unit please"

"Yes sir!" Subaru saluted playfully and energetically, "Corporal Subaru Nakajima, Gulf Special Rescue Unit. You kids can just call me Subaru though."

"Hai!" the kids chorused in awe and smiels.

Subaru then pointed to the gem on her roller-blades, "And this is Mach Caliber, my partner."

"**Hello"** the device's female voice chimed in greeting.

"Corporal Subaru" the tour guide requested, "Why don't you tell us about what your rescue team does."

"Okay." The young Nakajima was quick to respond, "The Rescue Unit is responsible for dealing with the most dangerous situations more than any other Disaster Relief departments. Our main job is search and rescue; in other words, saving people's lives. We go where others can't go, like deep into flames or in stormy seas. Any place where people are in danger and need our help, we will go. That is our job."

The children were amazed once more, "Wow…."

"Now.." the guide cleared his throat, "Why don't we go see what the training is like?"

Subaru was especially energetic in that response, "Hai! To the training ground kids! LETS GOOO!" and rushed off

"HAAAAI!" the children were right behind her, all of them excited and eager to see how someone they've been in awe of is trained.

* * *

**[Inside]  
[BGM: "Luca" FFX OST]**

Subaru's display of skill and friendliness to the young children who were on the tour came to little surprise to most of the trio. Runessa was the only one speechless, she had heard little about the friends of her senior Enforcer partner.

"Finally!" Sonic threw his arms up, "The girl learns how to BRAKE! Geez, I've been trying to get her to do that for ages."

"She does stuff like this?" Teana asked Ginga, "Tour guides and such?"

"She's great around kids." Ginga explained, "She gets a good crowd drawn. Half of the kids there probably just wanted to see her."

"Suits her personality at least" Teana commented.

"Yeah" the blue blur added, "She can relate to them in a way.. Nanoha, Fate and I have the same effect on children too… Most of the kids we meet, our own kids' classmates, they find us friendly and easy to get along; also cool too."

Rune was a bit curious, "She looks so young.. is she a friend of yours, Teana? Sonic? Ginga?"

"She's my younger sister." Ginga answered, "and Teana's best friend."

"Also my student" Sonic added, "One of the most stubborn ones too. Reckless as well; oh the stories I have with her and training are too endless.."

"Wasn't one of your lessons with her called something along the lines of "Avoid that hammer"?" Teana couldn't help but ask when Sonic mentioned the memories.

"Yeah" The hedgehog chuckled a bit as he recalled that episode, "That was when Amy went after her with Blutenblatt."

"Teana, go see Subaru after our debriefing" Ginga asked, "I know she's been wanting to see you for a while now."

"Will do" Teana nodded.

* * *

**[Conference Room]  
[BGM: "(The) Base" Sonic Adventure 2]**

Sonic stood in front of a gathering of patrol officers that were stationed at the headquarters. Since he was the lead investigator, it was his duty to keep everyone informed and in the loop. That said, he also established a feed into the Saint Church, where Hayate resided, as well as the investigative ship that Admiral Chrono Harlaown was in charge of. Heck, he even invited Fate, Shadow and Shade to listen in; though the reason for that was because it was his first investigation where he had to take the lead in investigating.

The hedgehog paced around while his device, Blue Star, displayed in a slide-show fashion, pictures, witness reports, incident reports and whatnot that were all related to the Mariage case.

"The first incident happened three months ago…" The hedgehog pulled up photos and reports related to the first murder. They were not pretty; dead bodies, harsh fires, gruesome for those to see "At Faurus's ancient historical (ruins) site. On Faurus, the murder victims for all six cases were ancient history/archaeological researchers and scholars/historians… The suspects, calling themselves "Mariage", captured victims and coerced them for some purpose. Afterwards they kill the victim with a large deadly sharp blade and proceed to blow up the whole damn area. The subject of their interrogation are unknown, though it's speculated that they are out for some location."

Sonic waited for a sign that he could continue before he pulled up the details of the next few incidents, all the details that came from each crime scene were as gruesome as they could get, vicious murders, then explosions to cover them up; "After that, similar incidents took place on Vaizen… Four murders with similar details… Too similar to be coincidences I might add."

Sonic shifted the slide-show footage to display the crime scene from the night before, at the shopping mall that he and Ginga investigated "And then last night, the murders arrived at Central Mid-Childa. The usual murder methods of the suspects, these "Mariage", are either stab wounds with a blade or possibly with explosives such as when they blew up part of the shopping center."

Even the hedgehog shivered after he showed all the evidence, he may have been an investigator, but this is his first case of this large magnitude, the slide show was paused when Sonic addressed everyone present "Local police officers and TSAB officers present are hereby ordered to be on the lookout for incidents with similar murders, unusual abductions, verbal threats and anything we discussed and determined to be part of the methods of these "Mariage"."

The slide show continued with some of the pictures and documentation of the autopsies of the murder victims, as well as forensics lab reports and analysis, "All murder victims bear penetrating stab wounds squarely on their throats, they appear to be the cause of death. According to the autopsies and professional opinions of the doctors who performed them, the suspect is not responsible for the wounds but rather the victims themselves are responsible… The victims violently pierced their throats with a blade. The "Mariage" are suspected of being able to either control the mind or body of the victim or coerced the victim to the point where they would elect to take their life."

The identities of the confirmed murder victims were put up on the screen; they were the last part of Sonic's debriefing, the victims themselves don't look remotely similar to one another and all came from different backgrounds, "As it stands now, there appears to be no connection between the victims other than how they died… at least that's speculated. I'd like to think that if they all shared the same killer, there's another connection that we just haven't found yet. Officers in charge of their district are to cooperate fully with the investigation to the best of their abilities. That is all.."

The lights were turned on again after the slide show and briefing that it was a part of came to a close. All of the feeds that were established to listen in on the meeting were also closed with the hedgehog promising to follow up with each person that he called in. Especially his Enforcer wife, Fate; speaking of family, he also made a mental note to call Nanoha later to see how the girls were doing.

* * *

**[Training Field]  
[No BGM]**

Subaru, having finished her part in the tour earlier, found an unusual, but pleasant surprise when Sonic visited her during some of her exercises.

"Sonic-san!" The energetic, younger nakajima cyborg squeezed the hedgehog in a hug, "I missed you"

"Y-yeah.." Sonic gulped in some attempt to take in oxygen, "Me too.. Uh.. let go please… can't breathe."

"Right, sorry!" Subaru released the hedgehog, "How have you been? How's your family?"

"One question at a time" The hedgehog pleaded after he was released, after a few deep breathes he regained his composure, "Okay.. I'm doing great, well as great as being swamped with work can get… And as for the family, they are doing great too. Though Nanoha's getting quite grumpy at home."

"Tell them I said hi" the young cyborg who used to be the hedgehog's student requested, "What are you here for?"

"Just wanted to pass on a message" The hedgehog nodded, "Not saying that "I" know anything personally about this, but you might want to check your condo when you get back… I hear an old friend's come by"

"Eh?" Subaru was confused, and before she could even ask what the hedgehog meant, he was gone without a trace.

* * *

**[Lobby]**

**[BGM: "A Brief Respite" Dissidia: Final Fantasy]**

He could have done this at any point with his device Blue Star, but Sonic elected to call his family on both of their devices in the lobby of the Headquarters. Fate was able to get some time to herself to take the call on her end while Nanoha had Alicia and Vivio with her. The kids were happy to see their "papa" again, even if it was only though a phone call.

"Hey" Sonic neutrally greeted, "Sorry this sort of call couldn't have been made during a more pleasant time."

"It's okay, Sonic-kun." Nanoha was quick to accept the apology, she knew the risks and workload that the Bureau can take.

"We're doing fine, Sonic-papa!" Vivio smiled

"Don't worry." Alicia added.

In truth, Alicia Testarossa-Takamachi was doing quite fine. Two years was more than enough time for her to adjust to the new life she was given; the nice family, good friends at school. A great education in magic thanks to the Saint Church; also she was finally told about the Jewel Seed incident, the incident that started it all for Nanoha and Fate. While it pained her to hear the pain her new "mother" and biological clone endured from her real mother's insanity, she developed a new respect for Nanoha when she heard about all the things she did to help Fate out. That respect was extended to her papa when she heard about the tribute he made for her at the concert of his first arrival on Mid-Childa.

"How is the case going?" Nanoha asked, she heard some rumblings about it when Fate called her after Sonic's debriefing.

"Slow" Sonic shrugged, "Just finished a debriefing about all that was known about the case through mine and Ginga's investigation, to some of the local reports. We've yet to find any leads.."

"I heard your conference." Fate noted, "You're skills are developing quite well. And the way you calmly handled the debriefing was professional."

"Thanks.." the hedgehog gave a quick reply, "I just wish we could get this investigation over with so I can come home!"

"Relax." The enforcer-wife acted as the voice of reason, "It'll be over with soon."

"Right.." Sonic sighed, "I just wanted to call and see how everyone's doing."

"We're all doing fine, Sonic-kun." Nanoha noted, "Stop worrying and catch those bad people that keep you from coming home!"

"Will do." Sonic's attitude brightened up a bit, "I gotta get back to work."

"Me too.." Fate sighed, "I'll call later to follow up on that conference."

With that, the hedgehog ended the feed with his family, with a brighter attitude he went back to work on the case.

* * *

**[Subaru's Condo]  
[No BGM]**

When Subaru arrived home, she was in for another surprise when Teana was there waiting for her. They were still very much in romance, and Teana was finally able to admit to that; after countless months of denial.

The original Riot Force 6 set of trainees and younger kids were almost complete with Alto being part of the investigation with her helicopter as transport. All that was really needed were Erio and Caro, the Lightning duo who were taken in by Fate.

Teana elected to sleep at her friends condo for the duration of her stay on Mid-Childa, and sadly had to tell Runessa to cancel her part of the hotel stay. Thankfully, her aide was accepting of the apology.

While that happened, Subaru sent an email to Caro and Erio's devices. The duo were still paired up when they were transferred to wildlife reserve.

Will the Mariage be stopped?

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

**[End of Chapter 23]**

**[No Omake this time]**

Author's Note: Time was not on my side... plus I don't know how I can follow up a gruesome murder debriefing with a joke.. just not really what I can do… The next chapter will have an omake.. and it will be funny


	24. Record 24

SonicANIME2010 here, bringin in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Alrigh.. well a fair warning, this chapter's going to be short, there's a reason for that and I'll explain on the end-note, I'll make up for the content in omakes and humor.

* * *

**[Unknown planet]**

A nature preserve, such a beautiful place, wild-life grazing as far as the eye can see; a perfect target for hunters, though; such as this tall man in his late-twenties, dressed in full camoflauge and holding a hunting rifle.

The man smirked in joy as he caught glimpse of an unaware and unguarded deer, "Oh yes… You are on the wall…"

Before he could fire, however, a large shadow descended over him and a pre-teen girl's voice called out an order, "Stop immediately and put down your weapon! According to the natural preserve law it's illegal to hunt here!"

The hunter was shocked by the presence of the pink-haired Caro Ru Lushe on top of her empowered dragon, Freidriche; despite the initial shock, he was either too defiant to obey the order, or he just wasn't the smartest person around; he still attempted to resist, "What the?! A dragon?! What era are we in?! Eh it doesn't matter. Oy, Pipsqueak on the dragon, you're going down!"

Caro gave the idiot hunter a death glare of doom, "Pipsqueak?! Who are you calling pipsqueak!"

The hunter fired off several shots from his rifle, aimed directly at the young girl on top of the dragon. Caro just sighed, "Why do I always get the dumb ones?" and deflected the shots with a barrier spell.

"Grrr!" The man reloaded a clip on his rifle, but before he could fire another shot off, his gun was suddenly sliced in half from the barrel, "Eh?"

The source of the slice was a yellow flash of lightning; the flash was revealed to be the spiky red-headed boy, Erio Mondial. The boy held his spear, Strada, pointed straight at the hunter.

"Now that's two charges on you now." Erio sighed, "The first was for violating natural preservation law, and now you're under arrest for attempted assault on an officer. If you surrender now, you'll have the opportunity to defend your case in trial. Now please drop your weapon.. er what's left of it, and cooperate"

With a broken and useless hunting rifle, and the fact that he was outnumbered two-to-one and literally outgunned; the hunter showed there was some hope for intelligence and surrendered himself to the pre-teen mages.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

**Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 24  
Reunion of Riot Force 6**

* * *

**[Wildlife Preserve HQ]**

Erio and Caro reported in to their commanding officer at their base; a woman by the name of Mira Barret; who thanked them for their good work in stopping a ring of big game hunters in the region.

On their way back to their shared dorm room, the duo received messages on their devices Kerykeion and Strada. The message was apparently sent by their best friend from Riot Force 6

Subaru's voice was chipper and energetic as usual in her message, "_Hey~_! Erio, Caro, how are you doing? It's me, Subaru! Right now Tia's on Mid with Gin-nee and Sonic-kun for an investigation and staying at my place. If you're on break or taking a break, I was wondering if you want to come and visit. But I'm sure you two are real busy though, so I'll just be happy if you send a video message to me. When you have time, call me back. _Bye-bye!_"

The two took a complete 180 and went back to their commanding officer's office and showed her the voice mail.

"I take it the two of you want to go?" The woman asked, she knew the duo long enough to know that they'd jump at the chance to meet up with any of their old friends again.

"Hai!" The duo energetically replied

"Go ahead" the officer smiled, "You two have helped us out here, and I think you deserve a day or two off."

With smiles on their faces and excitement and anticipation well obvious in their expressions, the duo ran off to begin packing for their trip to Mid-Childa.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Harbor Security Forces HQ]  
[No BGM]**

Subaru had just heard back from Erio and Caro in regards to her voice mail she sent earlier. Turns out they were able to get a few days off and can arrive on Mid-Childa at noon, a perfect opportunity for them, Subaru, Teana and Alto to have some time to catch up. Before that can happen however, work calls.

* * *

**[Shopping Center: Crime scene]**

Sonic, Teana, Runessa and Ginga decided to go back over the latest crime scene; hopefully two fresh pairs of eyes combing the scene would find something that Sonic and Ginga missed on their first time around.

The hedgehog gazed around at the scene, he shrugged a bit, he's already went through the scene multiple times already, "There's not much else to see here, girls.. I looked through this a dozen times already."

"Look over here." Teana indicated a section of the wall that looked like it had characters written in blood all over it, "This looks like some sort of memo or a message."

"That's what I thought too when I first saw it." Sonic noted, "I sent some pics of it to the Saint Church, but all they could say so far was that this text is in the Ancient Belkan language."

"I'll take a look." Teana spoke as she inspected the wall further, reading the text that was understandable "Psalm 6…Thus the King failed to return; the great King and his servants came to rest in the valley of darkness. Those servants who survived came to wander in despair; searching for their lost King and his army."

"If this is in Belkan then that means that these "Mariage" could have some relation to the ancient war during the Belkan time." Ginga thought out loud.

"We'll need more information." Sonic noted, "I'm sending out a copy of this information to the Infinite Library, Her Majesty, aka my adopted daughter Vivio, helps out over there sometimes when she's off of school. I'll call her at home later so I can ask for her help on this."

"You think Nanoha-san will approve of this?" Teana asked, "After all, she raises Vivio too."

"I'll just tell her she can bring Alicia with her too… heck if it makes her feel better I'll ask her to meet me at the Infinite Library" Sonic shrugged, "Perfect excuse for her to get out of the house and boredom"

"Smart move, Sonic." Ginga giggled.

"Anyways." The hedgehog shrugged, "Let's take more pics of this message and then get back to base. The best we can do now is wait for the information requests to come in and re-review all of the evidence."

In a matter of seconds, the trio of Sonic, Ginga and Teana fully documented a new promising lead for them to work off of.

* * *

**[Harbor Security Forces HQ]  
[no BGM]**

All the arrangements were set, after a quite energetic conversation with Nanoha and Vivio, Sonic arranged for them to meet him at the Infinite Library tomorrow; at the same time, the hedgehog also heard back from Deed and Otto at the Saint Church, the duo of former Numbers informed him that they were going to use the Library to research the queries he made.

As for Teana, she and Runessa parted ways for the night; while the gunswoman went off to lodge at Subaru's apartment, her partner went elsewhere

All of the events unfold, enemies make their moves and the Mariage have been revealed to be searching for someone, their lost "King".. Who is this king? Can the Mariage be stopped before more innocents are harmed?

**[End of main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Caro and shortness!]**

Despite two years of growing and reaching the start of her teen age; Caro has grown all of about two inches since her time at Riot Force 6. Could her short size also affect her temperament, let's find out.

Caro and Erio just finished binding a poacher they caught to be arrested when the not so smart arrestee put his foot in his mouth.

"Ugh, I can't believe I got caught by kids" The man groaned, "And worse, a shrimp of a kid!"

With angry tick marks on her face, Caro attempted to rush over to beat the poacher senseless, "WHO YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?!"

"Caro! C-calm down!" Erio, the voice of reason was able to hold the girl back before she could give the man a beat-down she learned from Knuckles.

Well.. at least she and Edward Elric have one thing in common. Never call them short.. or make fun of them for it… though despite how true it is *shot!*

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Tamura Yukari]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 24]**

Author's Notes: Arguably the shortest chapter I've written so far.. jeez I know, I'll work on it better next time. I've been swarmed with work and had to improvise.. plus this isn't exactly the anime I'm using.. I have Sound Stages for reference, and the best I have are wiki pictures and dialogue.. And I dare anyone to try writing a story like this that's based from an anime when all the stuff you can get are dialogues from drama cds, it's tough! Anyways I'll do better next update, I promise


	25. Record 25

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Yup I'm not sure how short or long this one will be, it'll go as I write it… here we go

* * *

**[Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[108****th**** Batallion HQ]**

Late at night in the Battalion Headquarters, a particular Enforcer Aide was in the midst of some curious research. The subjects in particular were the friends and former co-workers of her superior Enforcer, Teana; she took to an archive computer to look up the mentioned Riot Force 6 unit.

As a rather odd habit of hers, the aide talked to herself as she read out loud the articles she found, "The JS Incident… On 0075, Riot Force was responsible in charge for the investigation. Jail Scaglietti, the interdimensional criminal mastermind was responsible for crafting the most famous city scale terrorist attack in the history of the TSAB.

She absorbed the information with a rather curious interest "As a result of this incident, all leaders of the Mid-Childa central HQ and all members of the supreme council decided from henceforth move to review and reform the TSAB organization. Those reforms continue even now with the combat cyborgs

Without pause she continued, oblivious to a particularly familiar ebony hedgehog taking interest of the girl and her speaking out loud, "The combat cyborgs and artificial mages, from the illegal mass production of organic weapons project; The prototypes responsible for the devastating blow on the central HQ base; all have been accounted for.

"The colossal ancient Belkan weapon "The Saint King's Cradle" activation; The Division personnel involved as well as the Kaiser of the Cradle are" She could get no more as a roadblock restriction stopped her from going any further, "Huh? Can't go any further?! The case details have restrictions even here?"

"Well now." Shadow spoke from behind the enforcer aide, scaring the Living Daylights out of her, "Snooping around in restricted places are we?"

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Mizuki Nana]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 25  
Return of Shadow

* * *

**[Batallion HQ: Archives]  
[BGM: "Miscasting" Nanoha A's]**

Shadow the Hedgehog, formerly Project "Shadow", one of the Bureau's most toughest and powerful Enforcers aside from Fate Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi; caught a certain aide of Enforcer Teana snooping around in the archives and chuckled at the position he put her in

"Uwah!" Runessa stumbled out of her chair and noticed the ebony hedgehog's rank from her research, "E-Enforcer!"

"Shadow." The hedgehog smirked, "Shadow the Hedgehog."

Subaru and Ginga's father, Genya Nakajima, approached the two gathered, "Is there a problem?"

"Are you Commander Genya Nakajima?" Runessa asked.

"Yes." Genya nodded, "And you?"

"Runessa Magnus" Rune bowed politely in her greeting, "Currently assisting Enforcer Teana Lanster and received permission to search the databases here for information."

"Teana's here?" Genya asked

Ginga answerd that question as she walked up, "Hai, Teana's here, she's staying at Subaru's place tonight. Hello otou-san.. Shadow-san?! What are you doing here?"

The ebony hedgehog chuckled in petty amusement, "Fate thought that Sonic could use a little assistance in his investigation."

"Are you taking over?" Ginga asked, "As his partner I should tell him if his case is transferring command or anything like that."

"Nah." Shadow shook his head, the smirk grew wider in his declination, "Why should I ruin the blue one's fun of running his own mass investigation."

"So Teana is here.." Genya smiled a bit, "She should come visit for a bit. Quint and I would love to see her again."

"Tou-san" Ginga began to lecture, "Teana is an Enforcer now and you are a Commander. Your responsibilities are divided from each other."

'That's true and all" the older commander twiddled with his fingers a bit, "But…"

The elder of the Nakajima sisters sighed and relented, but not without having a little bit of a moment to joke, "Alright, I'll inform the Enforcer "If you don't visit Commander Nakajima and Kaa-san, they'll pout""

"Hey now.." the man almost whined a bit, "We weren't gonna pout."

"Suuuure" The ebony hedgehog replied, "Now where's Sonic?"

"He went home" Ginga answered, "Said that he's heading for the Infinite Library tomorrow, I'm required to join him in research."

"Maybe I should tell him about…" Shadow thought out loud for a moment, then shrugged and smirked, "Nah, I'll let him figure that out for himself."

"Figure what out?" Rune asked

"A certain someone is waiting for him and his wife" The hedgehog noted

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

By a stroke of luck, Sonic returned home from his long day at work at the same time that Nanoha, Alicia and Vivio. Nanoha had taken the girls out for some grocery shopping and arrived home the same time as the hedgehog.

When they arrived the first thing that was noticeable was that the front door was unlocked, and there appeared to be no signs of forced entry.

"Um.. Nanoha" Sonic pointed out, "Last I checked only three people had the keys to this house."

"And two of them are out here." Nanoha noted, the human started to unlock the door, "Which could mean.."

In a matter of seconds, Nanoha's thoughts were confirmed as a quick flash of black and yellow scooped up the hedgehog into a hug and then proceeded to hug her. The "flash" was Fate, their love and wife, who was quite excited to see them.

"Fate-chan?!" both of them cried out.

"Welcome home, Sonic-kun, Nanoha-chan" The Enforcer smiled to her loves, "I came back along with Shadow to help you out on the case."

"Really?" Sonic blinked, he had to take a moment to absorb what his wife just said, "Please tell me this isn't a joke"

"No Sonic-kun" Fate turned serious, "If these Mariage are as dangerous as reported then you're going to need all the help you can get"

"Alright, let's go inside." Sonic declared, "We'll catch up and bring you up to speed on what we found after the conference. Tomorrow we head for the Infinite Library."

With that, the family went inside to have a dinner and a discussion over the recent update. In particular, the reason why Sonic was going to take Vivio to the Infinite Library; Fate agreed to go with him as well. Not only for an extra pair of eye in research, but also a cover for the so-called "family trip" cover.

* * *

**[Subaru's Apartment]**

Dinner at home to celebrate a reunion seemed to be the theme of the night, and it extended to Subaru and Teana; needless to say the young roller-blader cyborg was quite excited to enjoy her "girlfriend's" company again.

Subaru ordered for a delivery service at a local seafood shop and also a sweet shop; like any other of the cyborgs, Subaru ordered about quite a huge order to keep herself filled up; Teana was still shocked at how much was actually ordered, but sighed when she heard the reason for the huge order.

"I was really hungry" Subaru placed her hand behind her head sheepishly

"I was going to offer to pay for this all." Teana noted, "Now I really don't want to"

"We'll split the bill just like we used to do" her "girlfriend" grinned, "It's not that expensive."

"Some things never change" the orange-head smiled.

"Besides" Subaru suddenly smirked, "We'll need the extra energy for later."

"If you can keep up" Teana blushed but countered with a smirk of her own

* * *

**[Random Shop]**

Alarms of an intrusion were sounded at a local clothes shop. A tall woman whose appearance matched those of the "Mariage" was captured on camera stealing a variety of clothes. There were no witnesses as the shop was closed and by a stroke of luck there were no civilians around to witness.

Probably for their own good that they did, the thief made her escape as mysterious as she broke in, only one thought was on her mind.

"_Ix... We will find you…"_

The enemy makes their move again, who is this mysterious "Ix" and why are the Mariage searching for her?

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet"]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 25]**

**Author's Notes: Short, yes… but its still an update**


	26. Record 26

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to the SSX/Mariage arc of the Lyrical Record story. Yup, Fate and Shadow are back and ready to assist in stopping the Mariage. I should point out though before I go any further; the Mariage keep mentioning this "Ix", all I can say is that there is no relation to the crazy echidna leader of the Nocturnus Clan. Completely different; anyway I digress, back to the story

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence: Early morning]  
[No BGM]**

It was early in the morning of this rainy day, but that didn't deter the Takamachi family much at all. After all, an early start to a big day arguably has been one of the better starts to think of; there's more time to prepare and more time for activities. In the master bedroom of the Takamachi household, two early risers, Fate and Nanoha, woke up extra early to have some time with one another, even in the presence of their other love who was sleeping still.

Fate greeted her love with a soft kiss on the lips, "Morning, Nanoha-chan."

Nanoha returned it in full, smiling with a lovely blush, "Morning, Fate-chan"

Sonic peeked his eyes open and saw his wives staring at one another; he kept silent, giving them their moment.

The two women spent a good moment "waking" each other up in a deep kisses and hugs, they did catch the hedgehog peeking at them, but did not stop and continued with their own love.

After the minute, Nanoha turned to her husband and smirked knowingly, "You can stop faking, Sonic-kun.."

"Enjoy the show?" Fate smirked to match her wife's, oh how she was happy to be home, while she loved her husband, she wouldn't say no to some time alone with her loving wife, Nanoha.

"Ara.." the hedgehog chuckled, "Don't let me stop you. After all you both love each other as much as you both love me"

"Awe.. so sweet of you" Nanoha kissed the hedgehog's right cheek

"Very sweet" Fate kissed the left cheek of her love's face

The mood was killed when the all-too familiar knocking was heard, much to the adults' surprise. Their children were up that early?!

"Sonic-papa, Nanoha-mama, Fate-mama" Vivio deadpanned on the other side, "It's time to wake up"

"Vivio-chan and I are already awake" Alicia added, because the fact remained that Fate basically was her own body grown up gave the young girl some "help" in visualizing what could be happening in there, and at her age, those thoughts were kinda gross, "Doesn't Sonic-papa have work?"

"_Busted!" _the trio shared the thought

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 26  
The Mariage Strike Again!

* * *

**[Mid-Childan streets]  
[No BGM]**

Sonic, Nanoha, Vivio and Alicia were driven by Fate to the Infinite Library after a quick breakfast.

"The Infinite Library is your destination, right?" Fate asked, already starting to go into her Enforcer Mode.

"Hai" Sonic confirmed, "We want to get as much research on these Mariage as we can."

"I have clearances to get into the sections we need" The young hetero-chromatic girl noted

"That's great to hear, Vivio-chan" Nanoha complimented with a smile

The conversation was interrupted when a call came in on Blue Star from Cross Mirage. The hedgehog was quick to answer, which displayed a video call of Teana in front of what looked like a crime scene.

"Teana?" Sonic asked, "What's up?"

"There was a robbery at the clothing good store right behind me" the gunswoman explained, "Security cameras caught an individual who's description matches the Mariage exactly: large built woman about 175 cm tall, wearing a bodysuit and a visor on her face. Among the items confirmed to be stolen are a summer coat and boots... I'll send have Cross Mirage send Blue Star the pictures now"

Sure enough, the hedgehog's device received pictures taken from Cross Mirage that displayed the summer coat and winter boots. In addition, pictures of the security camera footage depicting the woman in question breaking in and stealing the items were also sent.

"Got them" Sonic noted, "Thanks, what are you doing over there?"

"Rune and I are checking out the scene here, if we find anything else you'll need to know before you're done with your research at the library, I'll let you know." Teana closed the connection from her end.

The blue furred hedgehog detective frowned in deep thought. He pondered just what could the Mariage be planning, and what the coat and boots would be for. His thoughtful expression was noticed by Nanoha.

"What are you thinking about, Sonic-kun?" the brunette asked

"It sounds like the Mariage are planning something" the hedgehog thought out loud, "This theft could be the tip of a very big iceberg"

"I'm inclined to agree." Fate frowned as she took her car into an indoor parking lot, "We're here."

* * *

**[Undisclosed Location]  
[No BGM]**

An unknown figure laid hidden in wait. The recent news of the Mariage has generated a bit of discomfort for this individual.

"Mariage?" the voice from the figure was that of a young girl's, "Are you searching for me again? Stop this… Onegai…We shouldn't awaken here… or ever again… please don't find me."

* * *

**[Infinite Library]  
[BGM: "The Red Wings" Final Fantasy IV]**

Entrance to the Infinite Library required a key card and a voice match to verify the identity of the person attempting to get access. In order to get in, both key and voice were needed, it was a measure installed to prevent any unauthorized access. Vivio Takamachi, despite her young age of 9, has certainly studied and worked hard enough to attain a certain title of "Librarian" in the Infinite Library; as such she'd help out there from time to time and in addition, help her fellow bookworm and sibling Alicia study. The fact that Vivio is also the clone of a real monarch from the Ancient Belkan times has its own positive quirks aside from the right to pilot the Cradle of the Saints.

As the family of five walked to the entrance to the massive library, Ginga Nakajima joined up with them as she was ordered to by Sonic; the hedgehog knew he'd need all the help he can get if he was going to solve the mystery about these Mariage and how they can be stopped.

Vivio walked up to the terminal outside of the Library and slid her card in. The computer took only a few seconds to verify the identity and give its feedback.

"ID card confirmed, please provide audio sample for confirmation."

"Takamachi Vivio" The young Kaiser replied, "I'm here with my family to do some research"

"Voice confirmed" The terminal replied as the doors opened after the confirmation, "Welcome, Librarian Vivio"

"Arigatou!" the young girl bowed in gratitude and went in to the Library with her family in tow

Other librarians waved at Vivio in a happy greeting of the girl. Vivio's friendly personality and her likeness to study and read books has made her many friends in the Infinite Library"

"Otto, I'm here!" Vivio called out to a certain combat cyborg who was there to perform some research on the data request made by Sonic for his investigation.

"Oh, Your Majesty!" Otto bowed politely in a very formal greeting of hers, "Thank you for coming here to help out."

"Um.. Otto" Vivio sighed, "I've lost count of how many times I've said this, but stop calling me "Your Majesty"… it gets really annoying after some point."

"Uh…" The cyborg just stood there, she was about to say something, but Vivio cut her off again

"I'm a normal third grader, not 'Your Majesty'" Vivio huffed

"I may say so," Otto deadpanned "I do not believe there are any other normal third graders with the title librarian at the Infinite Library"

"Got you there, Vivio-chan" Sonic noted, "Point to Otto"

"Mou~" Vivio pouted, "I am a normal nine year old girl who happens to like reading more than most people. Special treatment is forbidden!"

"Hai, Your Majesty" The cyborg girl couldn't help but have a bit of fun with her teasing.

"Mou.. You're so mean!" the young Kaiser pouted once more.

* * *

**[Mid-Childa Airport]**

The morning sprinkle of rain turned into a light rainstorm by the mid-morning. Erio and Caro were picked up from the port by Alto and Subaru in a vintage car that Alto had dug up somewhere and took a lot of effort into restoring it. Needless to say, she certainly impressed the others present with the car.

To celebrate their small "reunion" Alto was going to take them to the Marine Garden resort in the capital city, but with the rather uncooperative rainy weather, a plan B was put into effect.

The plan B was a delicacy on the mid-coast of the planet, near the beaches and such. The only regret was that Teana was swamped with work on the crime scene and reports for the Mariage investigation and Vivio was out in the Library helping research the "Mariage" in order to assist her Sonic-papa with the investigation.

The celebrations and all were put to a complete pause when an announcement rang out that got everyone's attention and in addition, brought a serious alarm to Subaru's device.

"Dear customers, this is an announcement. The upper floors of the south coast Bell Weed Hotel is suffering from the outbreak of a large-scale fire. There is no danger of the fire spreading to the building itself but customers heading towards the south beach should be careful." The announcement was heard. Its sudden message and the idea of the danger from a fire that isn't too far away unnerved a few customers.

"A fire… nearby?" Erio asked, surprised himself

"A hotel by the coast" Caro thought out loud; from what she saw nearby there was a highly expensive hotel that had the same name, "You think it means that big black building?

"That's a really high class hotel" Alto noted, "That reminds me, isn't the upper floors of that place is supposed to members only?"

"There should be five star disaster prevention equipment deployed there" Subaru frowned in thought; since most high-end hotels provided plenty of security to their deep-pocketed clientele "So why would a fire…? Mach Caliber!" the teen called to her device

"**All Right"** came the female voice from the blue gem that was her device's standby mode

"The rescue teams have been sent but… the fire level is a…" the blue-haired cyborg gasped in extreme surprise and alarm, "FOUR?! That is a huge fire!

"Subaru-san!" Erio nodded as he stood up, no way was this young teen going to sit out on a chance to help out.

"Let's go help out!" Caro declared as she stood up as well; she could see the fun possibilities.

"Sorry you two, but your help is greatly appreciated" Subaru said in a bit of relief

"Roger!" Erio and Caro saluted, the old times were really kicking butt as a team anyway.

Alto noted something about her position and the situation with the fire, "Off duty members of 108th might be called in too. Sorry, but I gotta go too. I'll pay the bill, so the mages should go on ahead."

"Sorry about this." The red-head boy apologized

"Gomen, Alto" Subaru added.

"We're going now!" Caro said as she and the other two took off for the hotel on fire.

"Once everything is over, let's meet afterwards again!" Alto shouted as she watched her friends leave the delicatessen; after paying the bill, she turned off in her car to head for the 108th Batallion HQ.

* * *

**[Infinite Library]  
[No BGM]**

News of the fire travelled around quite fast; not as fast as a certain blue hedgehog, but fast enough for noteworthiness. All that was mentioned so far was that the fire happened on the upper level of a hotel that was at least a good hour's drive away, but a simple five minute flight if an aerial mage was fast enough.

"Some fire broke out in the Bell Weed Hotel" Fate frowned as soon as she got the news to her device, "Think it might be related to our case?"

"I don't believe in coincidences" Sonic frowned in response as he looked through a bookshelf and pulled out an old tome on the Ancient Belka history, "But, I do believe in not getting tunnel-vision; so unless I can be sure that the Mariage are behind it, I'll have to assume it's just a random fire."

"They're sending some of the rescue personnel there too" Nanoha added, "Think we can try getting a hold of Subaru-chan?"

"Yeah, I heard she was out to lunch with Erio and Caro" the blue hedgehog recalled hearing something like that from Alto; upon the odd look he got from Fate that non-verbally asked how he knew that before she did; he just shrugged, "Alto told me"

On cue, Blitz Caliber, Ginga's device, was used to open a communication feed with Mach Caliber, the sister device to it. The call went through as it showed Subaru in her barrier jacket en route to a location via her Wing Road.

"Gin-nee?" Subaru asked

"Sonic wanted to ask you something" the purple-head said as the mentioned hedgehog walked over to talk to the young cyborg.

"I need you to check for any signs of foul play, this fire you're heading to has all the matching signs of the Mariage striking again, but I need to be sure that this isn't some random accident" Sonic asked, "If this is really the work of the Mariage, then you get out of there, they are armed and especially dangerous."

"What about civilians?" Subaru asked

"Unless they've already been evacuated help them out too" the hedgehog answered back, "There's usually only one left and that one turns into their hostage. Not that that helps much because after the hostage talks, they'll just kill them anyway."

"Will you be heading my way?" the cyborg asked

"I'll get in touch with Teana and get back to you" Sonic replied back, "Good luck and be careful"

With Subaru hanging up on the other side, Ginga closed the connection. She frowned a bit at the oddness of the timing for the fires, but like Sonic, she couldn't prove yet that it was the work of the Mariage.

Could the Mariage be behind the fire? Who are they looking for, to be continued

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Alicia's Alternate Names for Fate-chan]**

Alicia and Fate talked about each other's familiarity, as well as if Alicia could accept Fate as a sibling or parental figure.

"Well even knowing that you could have been made as my imouto" Alicia thought out loud, pretty deep thoughts for a six year old, "I don't think I can accept you as that"

"Eh?" Fate blinked, suddenly a bit nervous over what the girl just said

"You're too old to be my imouto" a sudden smirk grew on Alicia's face as she couldn't resist that little shot, "You're most likely to be my…"

"Your what" Fate leaned forward, curious now as to what the girl she was "cloned" after could say

"Oba-chan!" Alicia declared energetically, "You can be Alicia's Oba-chan!"

"Oba?!" Fate's mouth was wide open and she had a few sweat drops from her surprise

Actually she really is an aunt (translation note: Oba = aunt)

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 26]**

Author's Note: Muahahaha! Cliffy! I'm getting my greatness back! 2.5k words this time, up 1000 from the last two. And Omakes are back!


	27. Record 27

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another Lyrical Record chapter. Okay firefight go!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated World #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Bell Weed Hotel]  
[Time: 1300 Hours]  
[BGM: "Enemy Assault" FFX OST]**

Teana Lanster and Runessa Magnus found themselves thrust into action when they read the reports of a serious fire at the Bell Weed Hotel. The duo reported to a low-ranking disaster officer in front of the burning building.

"Sir! I'm Enforcer Teana Lanster" Teana saluted the male officer, "With me is my aide, Runessa Magnus. What's going on?"

"We've identified at least one hostile suspect" the officer replied, "They barricaded themselves along with at least one hostage inside the hotel after they set off explosives. The sprinkler system automatically in place to fight these fires was also destroyed. Our personnel are having a difficult time fighting these fires"

Teana turned her head to her aide, "Mariage?"

"Seems like it" Rune confirmed, "This is their usual method of action."

"Who's the one in charge of the disaster relief?" the gunswoman asked

"One Off-Duty special rescue corporal arrived just minutes ago and took charge." The man answered, "She's currently inside with two younger mages who are also helping cover our personnel."

"Disaster Relief.. special.." Teana's eyes widened in realization, "Was the off-duty corporal identified as Subaru Nakajima?"

"Hai!" The man responded

"Arigatou." The enforcer nodded, "Rune, stay here and help assess. I'm going inside to deal with the suspect."

"Hai!" Runessa saluted.

Teana Lanster rushed into the hotel, as she did, she pulled out her gun device, which had a communication feed to Blue Star and Sonic Takamachi, "You get all of that, Sonic-san?"

"Yeah" came the reply of the hedgehog, whose feed showed him in the skies on his Extreme Gear, "Check on Subaru, Erio and Caro; then you take charge until I get there. I shouldn't be any longer than a few minutes."

"Understood" Teana confirmed and closed the connection to go to work.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 27  
Fire at the Hotel

* * *

**[In the Skies]  
[POV: Sonic]  
[BGM: "Launch" FFX OST]**

Sonic Takamachi rode his Extreme Gear, which had the form of an airboard with two blue parts following close-by. He rode at the max speed his gear was capable of in the skies.

He wasn't alone, however, as Fate T. Harlaown-Takamachi had accompanied him in the same sky. Flying through her usual method of magic, her device was in its Assualt-Form, which served as the default.

"What do you think?" Sonic asked of his wife and part-time senior partner, "Interrogation gone bad?"

"Maybe" Fate replied quickly, "Looking from previous reports, they don't actively go out of their way to harm civilians, so long as they don't get in the way. The fires they're setting could be designed to keep those who aren't involved out of the way."

"Just what are they looking for…" the hedgehog thought out loud, "Rather, who.. According to some writings they could be soldiers looking for their monarch."

"And their monarch doesn't seem too keen on letting them find him or her" Fate noted.

The duo flew through the skies over the city. District-by-district as their speed took them to the district where the hotel was located in little time.

Sonic was the first to take notice of the hotel and the floor that was aflame, "There it is.."

"If I heard right, Erio and Caro were there too" Fate noted with concern in her voice "I hope they're okay"

"Relax, Fate-chan" the hedgehog nodded, "They'll be fine. Now let's get going, the Mariage could be anywhere in that building."

"Hai" came the soft reply from the blonde woman as the duo descended into the burning building to start their own task.

* * *

**[Bell Weed Hotel]  
[No BGM]  
[POV: Subaru]**

After Subaru, Erio and Caro had entered the hotel to assist in the fire efforts, the trio split up to take on different tasks, but they remained in constant contact with one another through their devices.

The roller-blader mage shielded her forehead with her revolver gauntlets, trying to keep some of the sweat away from her eyes as possible. A fiery explosion from a wall up ahead surprised her as pieces of stair-steps had blocked her path.

"Erio! Caro!" Subaru shouted through comms as she crushed the steps out of her way with the Revolver Gauntlets, "Status!"

"Erio here, Subaru-san" Erio's voice reported first, "I'm on the 25th floor protecting a detachment of fire-fighters from debris, but we're not making much progress on the fire here."

"Caro here" Caro's voice came second, "I'm by the sea-side elevator. The situation's not any better over here either. And the halls are as red as an oven!"

"I was almost blind-sighted by an explosion" Subaru noted in all seriousness, "Something's able to cause these fires to burst out in explosions suddenly, be careful!"

"Ryokai!" the duo acknowledged and went silent so they could get to work again.

"Hot!" Subaru thought out loud with a wince as she noticed the burnt down stairs as well as the oil-like substance that was near the flames and could cause them to explode, "The stairs and elevators have exploded. And this black sticky burning agent… Both vaporization explosions and slow burning explosions? The suspect is either a mage specializing in explosive magic or possesses an explosive weapon of some sort."

"Subaru!" Teana's voice alerted the girl as the gunswoman approached Subaru; her gun drawn and ready for fire, "Daijobu?"

"Tia?!" the roller-blader was surprised to see her girlfriend in the building, "What are you doing here?"

"Guess I forgot to tell you" Teana sighed sheepishly, "The fire's the handiwork of criminals Sonic-san and I have been chasing."

"I knew it.." This was one of the few rare times that Subaru was serious and her frown showed it, "Looking at the amount of damage.. where the fire started. This was no accident.."

"If they're following the usual method" Teana observed thoughtfully, "There's probably a hostage that they're interrogating"

"Mach Caliber did detect at least one living person in there" Subaru noted.

"Then we better sa-" the gun-wielding teen started but was interrupted by another explosion that was closeby and caused some debris to fly in their direction. Before either of them could put up a shield spell to stop the debris, a flash of light occurred and the rocks were held in place as if by gravity.

"Isn't this…" Subaru's eyes widened as she recognized the ability. Her answer came in the form of the blue hedgehog and blonde enforcer duo who soon flew in through the hole the explosion made.

"Quite a View.." Fate observed as she noticed the view of the sea-side from the Hotel's high-up vantage point.

Sonic let out a whistle as he threw the rocks away via his Gravity Control, "To a kill" his snipe caused some chuckles from both himself and his wife

"Sonic-san?!" Subaru was completely shocked, "You're here too?"

"Mariage.." the hedgehog narrowed his eyes, "I'm not about to let them get away with this."

"They have a hostage up on the 27th floor, that's where the fire started" Teana noted

"We should hurry then" Fate declared.

Hurry they did, all the way up to the desired floor, even without the use of stairs or elevators, there were alternate methods.

* * *

**[27****th**** Floor]**

The four came to a doorway where they saw the figure that matched the description of a Mariage in front of a male victim. All of the body language signs indicated that she was in the middle of a harsh interrogation. Under Sonic's directive, the four split the doorway and just leaned over to listen in to the conversation, hoping to figure out what the Mariage were finally after.

The Mariage spoke to the man in a knowing tone, identifying the individual, "Ancient Belka illegal archaeological excavation specialist Bell Matera… You should know the location of Ix."

"_Ix?!"_ Sonic sent to the mental comms with his current companions, _"Something tells me this isn't related to that Nocturnus Incident years ago"_

The man, Bell Matera, shivered in fear "I… I don't know! It's true I've done some illegal excavations but I don't know any goods called Ix!"

The Mariage strengthened her hold "There is no way you cannot know. Ix is our king. You closely helped Toredia Graze in his search."

Bell's expression went from fear to anger of betrayal "Toredia? You mean that bastard? So it was him! I don't know about this Ix, but I do know about Toredia. I even know where he is!"

There was an oddly enough, polite tone, to the Mariage when she asked her next question "Onegai.. tell me"

Bell answered "Er, right… That old geezer suddenly disappeared and covered up his tracks five years ago, but last month he all of sudden contacted me. Hah ha… He said he wanted to retry that war he failed to trigger before."

Mariage raised her eyebrow, "War?"

Bell struggled in the Mariage's grip "I don't know about the details… Besides, that old geezer made lots of weird comments like that before. It's just that he helped me out on jobs before and he paid real well."

Mariage's tone went back to a serious one "Where is he located and how is he contacted?"

Bell started to sweat from the intimidation "Last week it was at the K267 underground, his contact number… it's… it's in my computer terminal."

"Confirmed. Thank you for your information…" the Mariage, a bit too calmly, released her hostage, "Farewell."

"I'm alive?" the mages could see Bell sigh in relief over his sparing of life, "What the hell was up with that? Old man Toredia, what the hell did you get yourself into? Wait a second… the weapon Ix? Could it be… that thing?" suddenly he felt a huge pressure in his body and head, and held his hands to it while screaming, "AH~! Get out! MY HEAD!"

Suddenly, Bell threw himself at the katana blade that the Mariage had morphed her arm into. In front of everyone's eyes, the man committed suicide when he impaled his chest in an instant kill-blow when the Mariage's blade pierced his heart.

Subaru almost shrieked had Teana not held her mouth to keep the stealth up. The poor girl, unlike the others present she wasn't used to seeing much "death". Let alone a victim suddenly commit suicide in such a violent manner. Tears fell from Subaru's face in mourning and sadness. A calm, gloved hand from Sonic was placed on her shoulder to console her for a moment.

"It's not your fault, Subaru" Sonic frowned in the Mariage's direction. The target of the frown either didn't seem to notice, or had something else on her mind.

The latter of the two was the correct explanation as the woman stared at the window with her guard open, "Ix... I, Mariage, shall now come to get you."

Sonic shouted out a spell "Restrict Lock"

Suddenly, the Mariage was held by the chains of the blue hedgehog's binding spell, "This is... capture magic."

Sonic took lead as he, Fate and Teana surrounded the suspect, respective devices leveled on her. Well, the hedgehog had the fingers of his right hand impersonating a gun for looks. Needless to say, there were plenty of shooter shots surrounding the mages "Don't bother; lady… you can't break that lock with strength alone."

"So it… appears." There was a strange calmness to the woman's tone

Fate's tone took the presence of one of authority, "Mariage, you are under arrest as a suspect of serial murders. I don't think you can move, but if you resist we will shoot"

"That's how it is..." Again the strange calmness, which set Sonic off in the suspicions "In other words, there is no way to escape"

Teana took her turn in the authority "I'd like to think you would make a wise decision. If you cooperate, we'll even give you the opportunity to explain yourself."

"Teana, wait! Something's not right" Sonic interrupted then turned to the captive Mariage, "Alright, lady what are you hiding?"

Mariage smirked suddenly, "I see but I'm afraid that the Mariage cannot allow themselves to be humiliated in this manner." As she said this, her left arm literally detached itself from her body, leaving only a puddle of a weird liquid. A liquid that the woman started to merge with; in short, she was literally liquefying her own body.

"What the?!" Sonic's eyes widened

Fate blinked in surprise, "Her arm broke off… No, bleeding? Not that either. Her body is liquefying itself?!"

The Mariage had a confident tone to her voice "I know where Toredia is and a clue where Ix is located. Even if I fall here, the others (my comrades) will continue to search for her."

"Ix.. so you guys aren't in the fan club of a senile echidna" Sonic noted, "Who is this Ix? You're referring to? Tell us!"

"Sonic wait!" Teana took her turn to interrupt the hedgehog and pointed to the liquid that the Mariage was turning herself into, "That color... This smell... It couldn't be..."

Mariage uttered out her last words before fully liquefying herself, "Mariage, the destructive soldier… Its body and everything it possesses shall burn their enemy with a (final) scorching attack!"

"Explosives?!" Teana cried out, "That's her attack!"

"GET DOWN!" Sonic shouted and tackled Fate and Teana, his momentum taking him and the other two outside of the room as the Mariage's extremely combustable liquid body provided a harsh fuel to the fires and caused a massive explosion. The blast engulfed the whole room and well beyond as Sonic and Fate tried to Defenser themselves from the damage.

* * *

**[End of Main Chapter]**

**[Omake: Don't Call Caro Short!]**

Erio, Caro and Subaru arrived at the scene of the fire and were quick to take charge of the situation, though, some of the local firemen weren't too keen about letting little kids run their show.

"We're from the Time-Space Administration" Subaru flashed her id, which was followed suit by Erio and Caro flashing their identifications to the local personnel, "We're here to help and take charge of the situation"

"You're the Time-Space Administration mages" one not-so-bright officer chuckled, "I say you're far too young and short for this line of work"

"Short…." A comically dangerously dark aura surrounded Caro, "Did you call me.. short?"

"Uhoh.. you called her short" Erio started, a small grin formed on his face

"Shouldn't have done that" Subaru added, suppressing her giggles

"Now you're in for it.." the young boy's grin widened.

"Uhoh.."the man gulped, "I'm sorry little girl….. I didn't mean it, honest!"

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!" Caro yelled and Friedrich instantly transformed to his larger form. With comical fury, Caro unleashed her dragon's fire and burned the ignorant officer, though there was a lot of pain, the real damage was just ash on the man's face.

Moral of the story; Don't point out certain obvious points

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 27]**

Authors Notes: I'm sorry, I'm suddenly morphing Caro into Edward Elric.. There's more short jokes to come with this though.. Anyways, Opinions please! I'd like to know how I'm doing here, thoughts on the current arc, thoughts on characters, just really need some opinions on how I can improve


	28. Record 28

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Time to reveal what the results from that cliffy were.

* * *

**[Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Bell Weed Hotel]  
[Time: 1410 hours]  
[No BGM]**

The Mariage self-destructed herself in a powerful explosion caused by her body liquefying into oil that provided a powerful catalyst to the already burning flames. The explosion was potent enough to take the whole 27th floor with it.

Thankfully, Sonic, Fate, Teana and Subaru were protected from most of the damage of the blast thanks to their quick use of shield spells. They were then rescued by Caro and Friedriche, the timing couldn't be any better for the dragon rider and her dragon. As they flew to safety of the ground below, the hotel crumbled down into flaming ruins.

The loss of life was at a minimum thanks to the quick thinking of Erio and Caro, because when they heard the loud explosion from the 27th floor, they quickly ordered their separate detachments to forget the fire and get out of the building when they could.

As the fire crews worked on dousing the flames of the crumbled hotel, Shamal and a detachment of medical personnel arrived on the scene to tend to the wounded. At the same time, a local detachment of law enforcement police officers arrived to take note of the incident.

Sonic was quick to identify himself, Teana and Fate as investigators charged with the scene. The situation was explained to the locals as a group called the "Mariage" had laid siege to the hotel in order to attain information regarding the location of an individual that they've been searching for apparently. The locals were also alerted to the appearances of the Mariage individuals and if they were to see any of the people matching the description, they were not to engage and report their finding to the Time-Space Administration.

After that, there was some other business to take care of before they could leave the scene. Something that even Sonic dreaded, let alone Fate and Teana: Shamal's medical examination.

"Well… this is unavoidable.." Sonic sighed, slightly nervous.

"Just be thankful that we didn't get injured too much" Fate added, "Otherwise she'd really get after us."

Nevertheless, Sonic, Teana and Fate had to endure a harsh lecture on recklessness and danger from the resident medic. It took a while, but they were finally released after the examination.

"Alright, where'd your junior go, Teana?" Sonic asked, "We've got to go to the Infinite Library and give the kids some leads we picked up on here."

"While we were being examined, Rune came to me" Teana replied, "She said she had a few more reports to finish up and she wanted to perform an autopsy on the victim from this incident."

"She specializes in autopsy investigations right?" Fate asked, "She probably wanted to use her medical expertise to see if there's anything we need to know."

"I'll take notes for her" the gunswoman noted.

"Right.." Sonic tapped his foot and pressed a few buttons on his Extreme Gear case, changing its form to an air-motorcycle with a passenger side-car. He hopped in the driver's seat, "Teana get in."

"Hai" the girl nodded and strapped herself into the side-car, "The Infinite Library, right?"

"Hai.." Sonic confirmed, "Coming too Fate?"

"Of course" Fate activated her barrier jacket and flight capabilities.

With a confirming nod, Sonic took off in his motorcycle for the Library, Fate was right on his tail in a metaphorical sense.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 28  
Infinite Library Research

* * *

**[Mid-Childan streets]  
[POV: Subaru]**

"_GET OUT! MY HEAD!"_

Subaru winced from the memory; as she walked home from the incident after her reports and medical examinations were complete. The young cyborg was still greatly haunted from the memory of seeing Bell commit suicide right in front of her own eyes. The feeling haunted her, not only did she witness someone die, there wasn't a damn thing she could do to save him.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she failed to notice Waltz, her superior officer, drive up next to her in his vintage Plymouth. She also missed the older veteran of a commander call out to her.

"Nakajima?" the man tried, but alas got no dice; he tried again, albeit a bit louder, "Oy! Nakajima!"

"Ara?!" Subaru blinked out of her thoughts and turned to the source of the voice, "Oh, Commander Waltz, are you heading out somewhere before going home?"

"I'll be heading home soon" Waltz confirmed, "But first…" he opened the passenger door, "get in"

"Eh?" Subaru blinked

"Oy.. get your butt in here" the commander comically dragged the young girl into the passenger seat.

"Kyaa!" came Subaru's comical scream, but she nonetheless entered the car "Okay okay"

"Now" the commander's tone went dead-serious as he started to drive, "I heard most about what happened at the scene and from the reports. The latest victim, according to Enforcer Harlaown-Takamachi, committed suicide right in front of you."

"Hai.." Subaru looked down at her feet, guilt starting to build up in her emotions, "I couldn't rescue him.."

"It wasn't just accident site but a murder scene for some serial killer as well." Waltz made his best attempt at consoling the young cyborg, "It's not something that you should get so hung up on too much… Having said that…Well not that that's much comfort to anyone, now is it."

"No no.. it's okay" Subaru waved her hands calmly, but still had some emotion of guilt in her gesture, "I just realized….It's… It's really quite hard… to see someone's life extinguish itself before your eyes."

"Of course it is" Waltz said, "You never get used to it..It never gets any easier.. and it never should either.. and it's not a good thing to get used to either."

"Hai.." Subaru nodded, "Was there anything else?"

"Oh yes." The commander cleared his throat, "Your elder sister and her partner asked if they could borrow you for a few days for their case."

"Ano…. Was it an order?" Subaru was curious

"The way they put the request.." Waltz answered, "They could make it an order…. This request was more made on your sister's part.. To stop a situation like this from ever happening again, and the next time it does become like this, someone can quickly act and lead a team to finish it."

"I'm not great at command, since I'm a front attacker." Subaru noted

"An idiot who can only attack well is a lot better than a guy like me." The commander noted, "It's nothing to scoff at."

"Commander, you're our hero. That airport disaster eight years ago is a legend." Subaru made a reference to the airport fire years ago, when the commander used to be on the front lines, it also brought back memories for them both.

Waltz was quick to make a note about how the operation in note was his last "But!..Because I pushed too hard at that time, I was forced to retire from the frontlines because of injuries"

Subaru countered "But there are many people out there Commander you rescued and are still alive today thanks to you."

"There were plenty of others I couldn't save…" the commander sighed as he took an exit on the freeway, "even now I still see them in my dreams… Seeing those who you couldn't save.. it takes its toll on you mentally, they come back to you in your dreams."

Subaru nodded, looking down again, "Hai…"

Waltz suddenly blinked, realizing how complex and full of zen he was becoming, "Huh, why are we having an introspective conversation like this between two bakas like us? It'll only make us sick."

"Um, er, well…" the cyborg giggled a bit sheepishly

Waltz's car stopped when he reached Subaru's apartment, "Well anyways, I'm just lending you out for a little while to keep them from being burned. So help out your sister and her partner out the best you can. And if there's someone who reaches out for help again, you answer that reach."

Subaru saluted the commander as she exited the vehicle, "Roger! Thanks for the ride home"

"No problem.." Waltz started up the engine again, "I'll see you around… be sure to let your new "superiors" know you're okay."

"Hai, I'll call them" Subaru smiled and went into her apartment complex.

* * *

**[Infinite Library]  
[BGM: "Between Ordeals (Cloister of Trials)" Final Fantasy X]**

Sonic sighed in a pause at the entrance to the Library from the HQ. The aftermath of the fire and its consequences still took its toll on the blue hedgehog.

"Still thinking about the victim, Sonic-kun?" Fate placed her hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"Yeah…" Sonic placed one hand's fingers on those of his wife and his other hand was metaphorically glued to the wall for support in his walk, "No matter how many times this happens, it never gets easier… does it?"

The blonde enforcer sighed, her husband was right, deaths still take their tolls, and rightfully so. They risk their lives to save others and avenge the deaths of those they couldn't save, but they never do or should get used to seeing some of the victims die.

"It never does I'm afraid" Nevertheless Fate smiled and rubbed Sonic's shoulder, "Demo, it's okay to feel these emotions, it lets you know that you're still human.. in a sense….You never can get used to this feeling and you shouldn't.. We can't save them all, but the ones we can save we do our best to save; and those we can't, we avenge their deaths."

"Thanks, Fate-chan…" Sonic gained a moral boost from his wife; he stood up and showed his card for entry, "Sonic Takamachi, Investigator, Time-Space Administration. I'm here with two others to check on an inquiry I made.. "

"Welcome back, Investigator Takamachi" the computer flickered and opened the doors to allow entry.

Sonic, Fate and Teana walked in to the library after greeting some of the other librarians there; Vivio, Alicia, Ginga, Nanoha and Otto were already gathered at a central table area.

Alicia and Vivio were quick to glomp Fate and Sonic respectfully when the two walked in. In the background was a news report about the fire at the Bell Weed Hotel.

"Sonic-papa, Fate-mama!" Alicia and Vivio said at the same time when they glomped their parental figures, "Welcome back!"

"Arigatou, Alicia-chan.." Fate softly patted her "daughter", on the top of the head

"Sorry if we worried you" Sonic said as he mimicked his wife's action, "Had a dangerous incident"

"That's okay" Vivio smiled cutely, "Sonic-papa and Fate-mama are strong, nothing can hurt them."

"Well except Nanoha-mama" Alicia corrected, "All three of them are unbeatable!"

"I'm sure we are" Nanoha giggled in modesty, "At any rate, we all saw the report from that fire incident."

"You get our reports too?" Sonic asked, hoping to save a little bit of time and get right to the point.

"Hai" Nanoha nodded, "But we only just got to the part with the inscriptions we were given from Teana's device back when she took pictures of the writing on the wall from one of the earlier incidents."

"So far we haven't been able to find much" Otto sighed

"But we're trying as hard as we can" Vivio attempted to bring up some optimism

Alicia helped with that attempt, "And we'll figure this thing out"

"Maybe this will help" Sonic held up his stand-by form device, Blue Star, "While Teana, Fate and I confronted the Mariage suspect, I was able to record our conversation, just in case"

"And two important names came up." Fate noted, "Well they were important to the suspects, and the victim did mention them as well. One was Toredia"

"And the other was Ix" the hedgehog continued, "Odds are, since the Mariage referred to this "Ix" as a female, I doubt they're part of a certain senile echidna's fan club"

"Try Ancient Belkan" Teana offered, "That's the language the inscriptions were written in"

"Yosh!" Vivio was pepped up, "Round two of research at Zeryoku Zenkai!" said quip got Nanoha to blush at her childhood catchphrase being used by her daughter

"Oh you soooo copied that last part from Nanoha" Sonic snickered

"Would "Sonic Speed" be more appropriate?" Alicia teased

Now was Sonic's turn to blush, he won't be able to live down that phrase just yet, despite how appropriate it still is considering how fast the blue hedgehog is.

Nevertheless, even with all of the leads, the research took hours to find anything, but when they did find another lead, it was sure to count. Vivio worked extra hard, and the results were starting to pay off.

"Alright, I found something that could help us get more results" Vivio declared, "According to this, Ix and the Mariage. They were in the mid-to-last stages of the Ancient Belkan Wars era.. in specific there's a connection between them and the Saint Kaiser Unification…"

"Figured…" Teana noted, "That was the language of the blood-writing from one of the scenes we found.."

"That will narrow our search down more" Otto nodded, "We'll also be able to find out how this Toredia individual relates to the Mariage."

Sonic checked his watch and yawned a bit, "I think some of us will need to search for a bed before we're forced to."

"This seems like a good stopping point anyway" the cyborg confirmed, "I need to report to the Saint Church anyway… besides, most of the documentation regarding the Saint Kaiser unification are in code similar to Carim-san's prophecies.. Before we can figure out what they mean, it's best that she be brought in to help translate."

"Good idea" Fate nodded and stood up with Nanoha and Alicia in tow, "If anyone else doesn't mind, our family's heading home for the night."

Vivio let out a loud yawn that sounded similar to how her papa yawns, "I am getting a bit tired.."

The hedgehog picked up the girl and held her in a bridal carry, "Come on, Vivio-chan.. we'll have more luck tomorrow."

Ginga stood to take her leave as well, "I'm staying at Subaru's place tonight, I heard that Erio and Caro are visiting."

"I'll join you" Teana added, "I guess we'll see everyone in the morning then?"

"Hai" The Takamachi family were the first to take their leave, they filed into Fate's car and left for home.

* * *

**[Subaru's Apartment]**

Finally, Teana was officially reunited with Caro and Erio, effectively with Subaru, giving a full reunion to the Four Forwards of the former Riot Force 6. Hugs went all around and Caro decided to cook dinner for the night, she was cooking for five, which included two cyborgs and their almost-endless appetite.

Subaru was surprised at first when she came home after Waltz had his discussion with her; she smelt something odd from outside her apartment. When she went in she found the Lightning team duo fixing dinner.

Interestingly enough, Erio and Caro made quite the cooking pair. Caro had a famed delicacy in the Conservation Corps, that was her specialty stew, which she made using spices she had from Riot Force 6. Erio was no pushover either; he made sukiyaki bread, which was a loaf of bread stuffed with sukiyaki meat.

Nonetheless with Caro's chef skills, she was able to keep the stomachs of the Nakajima sisters full and her former teammates happy.

While they ate, the case was being discussed. There was the possibility that Caro and Erio would volunteer their services, but, as Subaru said, they'd have to talk to a particular blue hedgehog in order to get that confirmed. She already was requested on her sister's behalf, though odds are Sonic had his own hand in the request.

At the end of dinner, everyone was tired from all of the hard work that was done in not only the case, but also the fire incident in which Subaru, Erio, Caro and Teana had a hand in dealing with.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

Thankfully, there weren't any surprises awaiting Nanoha and her family her on Mid-Childa; so she, Sonic and Fate were able to fix dinner for the kids peacefully and without interruption.

During dinner, which was a serving of sirloin steak, salad and potatoes; Tails called Sonic's device. Apparently the fox had developed something interesting for the hedgehog that could be of use to him during the case. Although, since it was late, and Tails didn't want his live-in girlfriend to lecture him on working all-nighters, it could wait until the next morning.

After chuckling at Tails' small complaint about Amy Rose, Sonic ended the feed. Speaking of Tails and Amy had gotten Nanoha and Fate to talk a bit about their relationship. There was actually a betting pool on who would propose first since they both loved each other. Sonic was still sticking to his gut that his little buddy would ask first, Nanoha and Fate were, oddly enough, on his side. The other end of the betting pool, the side rooting for Amy Rose, was Hayate, Carim and Vita.

Betting pools aside, the general fatigue from working hard in the case had taken its toll and "suggested/forced" the family to turn in early, though they were eagerly awaiting what the next day could bring.

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Caro and shortness-coping]**

After giving her all in the efforts to fight the fires at the Bell Weed Hotel, Caro Lu Rushe still had to deal with the paperwork and reports post-incident.

Sonic and Fate watched as the young dragon summoner, along with her partner Erio, filed reports and gave them to an individual in charge.

The individual himself was rather skeptical about how young pre-teens like them were able to assist and save lives. Though the skepticism wasn't unfounded, his word-choice could have been better.

"I still have my doubts that you were able to be so much of a help in this fire" the man noted, "I still can't believe that a little kid like you is out here risking her life.."

Unfortunately, Caro stopped paying attention the second the L-word was said to her. In a fit of comical rage, the girl casted physical strength boosters on herself and gave the unfortunate victim a powerful roundhouse kick, "DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

Erio watched the poor sap fly a couple of miles away with an expression of amusement on his face, "Ano Caro.. I don't think he was talking about your height just now"

Caro blinked at the statement and paused for a moment, only to resumed her rant-yelling, "Well even if he wasn't he still made me mad!"

"Well.. that was entertaining" Sonic snickered

Fate was shocked at the sudden temper her former charge held, "Y-yeah.."

"You record that?" the hedgehog asked, a sudden look of mischief amongst his features

"Hai" the blonde enforcer's shock was quickly replaced by mischief, "Bardiche got it all.."

To Be Continued

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 28]**

Author's Notes: Any translations would have been addressed in previous chapters, anyways.. I wonder what Tails could have for Sonic? Review please. I need criticisms.. opinions, spelling, grammar, anything


	29. Record 29

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Sorry about the long delay, schoolwork piled up on me. Anyways, onto the fanfiction!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[Time: 0630]  
[BGM: "Miscasting" Nanoha A's OST]**

Vivio, Fate and Alicia waited outside the house, waiting in the cold snowy morning for Sonic and Nanoha. The mentioned two had woken up extra early to be picked up by Mary from Engineering for some reason. There was a silence amongst the trio of yellowish-blondish haired girls.. kinda..

"Fate-mama, it's cold!" Vivio complained, she just had to break the silence, "Why can't we wait inside?"

"Because Sonic-papa and Nanoha-mama said they'll pick us up here in a few minutes." The woman replied with a sigh.

"It's too early to be waiting outside.." Alicia sighed, "We could have just waited inside where it's warmer."

"Tell you two what; if they don't arrive in the next minute or so then we'll wait inside." Fate offered, knowing full well that her device had tracked Nanoha's and Sonic's to about a good 30 seconds away from the hosue.

"Hai!" The duo agreed simultaneously.

Sure enough, Fate's gamble was right as a car pulled up in front of the trio, shocking them in awe with its appearance. It was a bulky, light blue car somewhat modeled in Sonic's likeness, at least that's what inspired the twin spikes just above the brake-lights. The car had a roof that looked like it could convert into a convertible, but due to the cold weather that would have been an unwise choice. The right-front window rolled down to reveal the driver to be none other than the blue blur himself with a smirk on his face.

"Ohaaaaayo girls!" Sonic grinned in greeting.

"Sonic-kun/papa!?" Fate, Alicia and Vivio asked respectively (with Vivio and Alicia asking "-papa")

"Me too" Nanoha chimed sing-songly to make herself known.

"Eh?!" The trio blinked in complete confusion.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 29  
The Investigation Continues, a plot thickening

* * *

**[Streets of Mid-Childa]  
[No BGM]**

The surprised and blind-sighted reactions from Fate, Alicia and Vivio served quite the amusement for Sonic and Nanoha. The source of the surprise was no doubt the new set of wheels the duo had acquired specifically for the case. The car was actually far more spacious on the inside than what the outside looked, as it could actually hold up to five people including the driver.

Vivio enjoyed the soft feeling of the seats as her curiosity took over her, "Sugoi! Where did you get this?"

"Hai" Fate agreed, sending a curious glance in the direction of her husband and wife, "How did you come by this interesting car?"

"Heh heh" Sonic snickered, "A gift from a fox, of course"

_-Flashback-_

_Sonic explained the story of how he and Nanoha got the car from Tails. It started when Mary from engineering picked them up._

_The duo arrived at the engineering lab of the TSAB HQ. The techs were already hard at work on prototype device upgrades and such. Tails was waiting for Sonic and Nanoha in the center of the room._

"Ah! Sonic, Nanoha-san. Welcome"_ the fox greeted,_ "I think it's safe to assume why you're here?"

"Considering you asked me to bring Nanoha I assume it's because you wanted us to test some new tech or something?_" Sonic asked_

"Hai_" Tails confirmed with pride, "_We were just finishing a prototype car. And I think it'll be a good use to your case_"_

_The fox pressed a few buttons on a display behind him. The middle of the floor opened up to reveal the car that they developed, "_May I present, the "Speed Star". The latest prototype all-terrain transportation vehicle._"_

"Nifty, why does it resemble me?_" Sonic asked._

"Because we're going to ask you and Nanoha-san to test drive it._" The fox explained, "_If all goes well in the test drive we can then start making this available to most mages in the field, if only to serve as transport._"_

"I trust this car has some goodies, "Q" _Sonic asked, jokingly giving Tails a new title._

"Please don't call me that.._" Tails requested in a half-serious tone,_ _"_I saw those movies.. and unlike those I'd really appreciate if this prototype is returned in usable condition_.. _Anyways, standard weapons and stuff include magic-round firing machine guns, tracking, magic-signature tracking missiles, smokescreen, tacks, and a few other options. I'll explain them when they become important._"_

"Well until then we'll take this out for a quick spin, gotta pick up our daughters and wife to head for the Library"_ Nanoha declared._

"Alright, be careful though. The car just got a fresh coat of paint"_ Tails requested_

_The duo nodded and left in the new set of wheels_

_-Flashback End-_

Fate was surprised, but very thankful for the information and explanation she was given, "I see the engineering was hard at work again"

"Well at least they do good work" Nanoha noted.

Sonic nodded in response as a call came in on Blue Star, the call came in from Ginga's device and location from the background showed that she, Teana and Subaru were already at the Infinite Library with Otto, Deed and Carim of the St Church.

"Sonic-kun, where are you?"Ginga asked, "We just found a new development."

"Give me the short version now, I'll hear the longer version when we arrive at the Library" Sonic requested.

"Right" Ginga pressed a few keys from the display her device brought up during the call and displayed an image of an average looking gentleman, "the Bureau has confirmed the identity of Graze Toredia, a former scientist who's gone rogue and off the radar for some time. But that's not all. We found something just a few minutes ago when we made an inquiry about him."

"What is it?" Sonic asked.

"Toredia already has a couple of outstanding warrants for arrest against him. The probably explains why he's been underground for some time." Teana chimed in, "Intelligence links Toredia-san with Jail Scaglietti."

Minus Alicia, who felt that reference was a bit before her time, the group in the car frowned at the name and the memories brought up from it. Sonic, Vivio and Nanoha particularly remembered having to fight an out-of-control Emerl when he was captured and used for the Cradle of the Saints. Fate remembered the scientist for trying to insinuate that she was no better than Precia Testarossa.

"Ah yes.. our favorite Combat Cyborg nutjob.." the hedgehog quipped.

"Hai.." Ginga sighed, "And we believe that he may hold some information on the whereabouts of his former co-worker."

"As well as the Mariage, no doubt" Sonic added.

"We found out some information on them as well, but that will have to wait until you guys get here." Ginga noted, "Because, with your permission, Sonic-kun, I'd like to pay a visit with the Doctor and see what he knows about Toredia."

"Just don't go alone" the hedgehog was quick with a warning

"I won't. I'll bring a couple of my sisters.." Ginga, who is a cyborg herself, confirmed that, "I'm also waiting for them. How long until you're here?"

"Pulling into the parking lot now" the hedgehog smirked as, while he was saying that, he parked the Speed Star car.

"Eh?! That was quick" Ginga managed to say in her surprise before the line was cut due to Sonic hanging up.

* * *

**[Infinite Library]  
[BGM: "The Red Wings"]**

After quickly checking in at the entrance to the Library, Sonic and his family greeted a surprised group at the center part of the Library. The group consisted of Ginga, Teana, Otto, Deed and Carim Gracia.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Ginga asked.

"New car" Sonic snickered, pulling up a display of his new "Speed Star" parked, "Courtesy of Tails and the Engineering department."

"Anyways…" Fate was quick to change the topic, knowing that Ginga's time was short, "What did you find out about the Mariage?"

"Well-" Carim began but was quickly interrupted by Sonic.

"Hold it.." the hedgehog sent a curious glance in Teana's direction, "Where's your aide? If this is important, shouldn't she be here too?"

"She said she wanted to do a few double checks on her autopsy before sending in an official report." The gunswoman sighed, "I don't really understand why though, I mean we all saw the victim die and know how he did so"

"This is a pretty big case" Fate said, though she made no real attempt to justify the absence of the aide, "It is somewhat understandable trying to keep your bases covered."

"I'll take notes for her anyway" Teana offered.

"Fine.." Sonic sighed, though he couldn't help but shake the suspicious thoughts, _'Now that I think of it. Shadow said he caught her trying to look up some classified stuff on the JS incident'_

"If I may?" Carim asked, time was also precious to her as she did have other duties at the church to tend to.

"Onegai" Nanoha requested.

"I managed to translate some of the notes you guys found yesterday" Carim noted and started to read off the translation she managed to perform,_ "The large army composed of the dead, it will consume its dead enemies, increasing its numbers, and turn the battlefields into scorched lands. They are the Mariage. Their built up forces shall continue to be multiplied infinitely by Ix, it is impossible to stop their march."_

"Ix.." Sonic noted with a frown, "That name certainly rings a few bells."

"Sonic-papa" Vivio noted in all seriousness, "I think I understand what this means, the Mariage have some sort of a proliferating weapon. Very dangerous"

"They had that technology back then?" Otto blinked in confusion.

"It was the same era that Al Hazard was supposedly active" Fate made a small conjecture, hoping to shed some light.

Carim showed another book, "This one I picked up thanks to Caro Lu Rushe. I must thank her for the help later"

"It has anything important?" the blue hedgehog asked.

"Hai." The head knight of the church confirmed, looking through the book again, "I'm sure it had something right about…" she smiled after a certain page, "Ah! Here! Dark King Ixpellia. Born on the year 224 of the old calendar, the king of the Garea empire during the time Ancient Belka, a fierce, tyrant king who loved war and brutality.

"He also made use of corpses to produce weapons to invade neighboring countries... The corpse weapons, Mariage; translates to "puppets" in Ancient Belkan language, and their means of production were considered as objects of technology on the same level as the Sankt Kaiser family's warships and the Sank Kaiser's Cradle."

"Great just what we needed." The hedgehog sighed in exasperation, "Nutjobs with advanced technology.. Corpse weapons must be related to the Mariage being able to turn into very flammable oil."

"If I heard right" Teana noted, "Didn't the Mariage we encountered earlier actually refer to Ix as female. Like she was some mistress?"

"Their context of the term "king" probably wasn't defined by any gender" Sonic shrugged, "Vivio's the clone of the Saint Kaiser and she's a girl.. obviously..."

"Thank you Sonic-papa" Vivio deadpanned, "I keep getting called "majesty", to my annoyance even now. You're probably right.."

"That or we're dealing with something like the Dread Pirate Roberts. After all, no one would probably take a "Dark Queen Ix" seriously even with the Mariage back then, maybe she just changed it to "Dark King" just to keep up with the reputation." The hedgehog offered with a subtle reference.

"Nice movie reference" Nanoha commented off-handedly

"That can't be good.." Fate frowned, gathering attention to the previous and more serious topic at hand "If Toredia found access to the technology mentioned, this could become another major incident."

"If it comes to that, then I'll give Hayate authorization to utilize the Cradle of the Saints" Carim assured the enforcer of that.

Just then, a group of Cyborgs, specifically Cinque and Sein, entered the Library. Sein's presence was noted first when she asked in awe, "Alright, who parked the awesome car in the lot we were just in?"

"That would be me" Sonic snickered, he changes one little thing, like the car he commutes, and everyone immediately noticed, "Before you ask, I got it from Tails, and NO you cannot have one of your own."

"Darn.." The cyborg and nun-in-training pouted, "Anyways.. Cinque's here to pick up Ginga for their trip to visit the Doctor."

"And what are you doing here?" Fate asked.

"Picking up Carim-san.." Sein explained, "She's needed back at the church."

"Alright" the hedgehog shrugged, "If that's alright with Carim-san, can we borrow Otto and Deed for a bit more research in here?"

"Sure" the woman nodded, "They'll be helpful I can assure you of that"

As Carim, Cinque, Ginga and Sein left to do their separate duties, Erio and Caro walked into the library to greet Fate, Teana and Subaru.

"Fate-san" Erio and Caro beamed energetically in greeting to their "caretaker".

"Erio, Caro" Fate nodded in acknowledgement, "What are you two doing here?"

"We got permission to help out in this investigation" Erio started as Caro walked over to Sonic and Vivio.

"We'll do our best to help" the pink-haired and somewhat vertically challenged pre-teen smiled in confidence.

"_Okay! Thank you!"_ Sonic gave her a fanged grin, "You both can take over where Ginga and Carim-san left off.. Right now we're trying to find any leads about Toredia Graze, any recent bases of operation."

"Hai!" the duo nodded and joined in the search of leads.

* * *

**[108****th**** Batallion]  
[No BGM]**

Runessa Magnus sighed after finishing her autopsy. Truth be told, it was easy for her to write up what happened and what she found, but she also had other things plaguing her mind.

True to her naughty habit, she thought to herself out loud, "Toredia-san… where is your hideout.. You claimed to have found Ix.. but where could she be hidden?

"I know the Mariage are being a bit more cautious after the close call at the Bell Weed hotel.. I just hope we can avoid continue to avoid Bureau suspicion. Teana was easy to convince, but there's something about that blue hedgehog in charge." Runessa continued her thoughts

With a sigh and after properly stowing away the dead victim's body, Runessa started to walk out, "Soon… Toredia-san… Ix will be found."

**[BGM: "Throw it all away ~instrumental~" Sonic Adventure 2]**

Unbeknownst to the Enforcer Aide, her thoughts were eavesdropped on by a familiar ebony hedgehog. Shadow frowned after he heard the girl talk out loud.

'_Looks like the blue hedgehog may be right after all'_ Shadow thought to himself, _'It was no coincidence that I found her snooping around the JS incident.. And his gamble to block her from further access worked too.. while she was working on the autopsy she kept trying to access the classified intel about the incident Riot Force 6 was part of.'_

The hedgehog took his own separate path out of the HQ. His motorcycle ready, Shadow rode off for the main HQ. He frowned in deep thought as he rode off, _'Sonic has to be warned of this.. Teana as well.. Hopefully I can get there in time!'_

**[To Be Continued]**

**[End of Main Chapter]**

* * *

**[Omake: Otto and Vivio in "Polite greetings"]**

Being the clone and actual direct descendant of the Ancient Saint Kaiser Olivie Sägebrecht gave young Vivio Takamachi some interesting moments when she talked with the Combat Cyborgs, especially Otto, who kept stressing the "majesty" part of her name the most.

"Mou!" Vivio pouted cutely, "Otto, why do you girls have to keep calling me "majesty"? It's embarrassing!"

"But you are the majesty. You're the only one who can directly operate the Saint's Cradle, which is only usable through your bloodline" Otto explained, her amusement shown in a cross-armed smile, "Besides, it's funny seeing your reaction."

"I doubt I can convince you girls to stop." Vivio sighed in a subtle defeat.

"Sumi-masen" Otto countered in politeness, "This is too much fun… besides, be thankful I'm not as annoying as Wendi or Sein about making fun of you"

"Mou…" the young Kaiser sighed, "Those two are worse.. they get dirty!"

"Very" Otto shivered, suddenly feeling self-conscious, "They groped me to make sure of my gender"

More on that reference soon!

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 29]**

Author's Notes: Uhoh.. what could Runessa be up to? Not gonna spoil, but if anyone guesses correctly I'll maybe give a treat. By the way: Speed Star is the name of Sonic's car in Sonic & All Stars Racing. But it looks just like the model used in Transformed


	30. Record 30

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Alright time for another twist.

* * *

**[Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Roadways: Miles away from the Infinite Library]  
[Time: 0830 hours (8:30 am)]  
[BGM: "Throw it all away" Sonic Adventure 2 OST]**

He knew he was followed, even if he couldn't see the individuals over the rain or hear them over the sound of the roar of his motorcycle. He knew from the moment he left the 108th battalion that he was followed. How? How did Shadow the Hedgehog, one of the Time-Space Administration's top Enforcers, with speed almost fast enough to rival a particular blue hedgehog and power that could impress Fate Testarossa-Harlaown-Takamachi, know that he was followed? Simple, really, he made no attempt to disguise his fast exit from the headquarters after a coincidental eavesdrop. More importantly, not only did he know that he was being followed, he also knew by whom and why.

'_Time to spring my trap., they have no idea how easily they played into it,' _That thought brought a smirk to his expression as he suddenly made an abrupt stop and cut into a turn where he shut down the engine of his vehicle. It was time for the hunted to become the hunter. The confident smirk was still present as the black hedgehog pressed a few buttons on the watch attached to his right wrist.

The original "hunter" turned out to be another of the Mariage. Her body was built exactly like the others: 175 cm tall, slim body build that was accented by the skin-tight bodysuit she wore. To blend in slightly, she had also worn a large hooded trench-coat. The woman paused on a rooftop that was just above the spot where her target had made a turn. Though there was quite a deal of distance between the roof and the ground, she could barely make out the shape of a black motorcycle with red highlights, but could not find her target anywhere.

"Troublesome… Target lost" The Mariage spoke with a barely detectable amount of disappointment to her tone.

"Looking for something?" a dark, sinister voice that oozed confidence asked, though the individual behind the voice knew very well the answer to that

The Mariage, taken off guard, turned her head to the source of the voice, only to be greeted by a harsh left uppercut to her face. The attack had taken her by surprise and pain and had put her in a tough situation, because she was hit at the edge of the rooftop, she was forced to cling to the tie of the ebony hedgehog's Enforcer uniform in an attempt to drag him with her in a fall. To no success, however, as the hedgehog held his ground confidently and smirkingly by the grip of his air shoes; she did try to slice at him when her right arm morphed into a katana.

Shadow, as if expecting the attack, effortlessly guarded it with his left hand, the sinister smirk still present as he taunted, "Weak and foolish.. Weak for your pitiful attempt of taking my life, and foolish for walking right into my trap.. Don't bother trying to contact your allies either.."

Sure enough the Mariage had attempted just that, only for a frown to fully appear on her face as all she could get was static, "How?!"

"Jamming" the ebony hedgehog held a firm grip on the katana, and forced the Mariage to keep her grip on his tie, "Now.. I know you can probably escape this, but I wouldn't recommend that either"

"This Mariage is but a pawn." A familiarly cold tone returned to her voice, "When the time comes, the king will return. Even if there is no Suzerain, the realm of the dead shall open again. The soaring flames and battle cries shall righteously make the value of peace known there… You are too late.. Suzerain Toredia Graze is no longer here…Fellow machines have dispatched to the bottom of the sea, dispatched to acquire our Ix."

"Bottom of the sea, eh?" the sinister voice of Shadow questioned, then paused when his device flickered from his right wrist. Suddenly, his confidence grew more when he checked what he was told from it "No matter… you've outlived your usefulness."

With a flick of his left wrist, Shadow released the katana from his grasp and with the same hand, made an upward chop to force the Mariage to release his tie from her grasp and let gravity handle the rest of the work. The woman fell down to the ground and made a harsh impact on the rough concrete. Her sudden appearance startled a couple of civilians, and that surprise only grew as the Mariage's body liquefied itself into oil and became nothing but a stain.

"What a helpful pawn" Satisfied with the results of his interrogation, the ebony hedgehog fixed his tie back to its original position and returned to his motorcycle.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 30  
An Old Foe Reveals a Truth, Location of Ix Confirmed?!

* * *

**[Uninhabited World #9]  
[Orbital Prison]**

Guryūen, a high security prison intended for some of the most dangerous of criminals and masterminds. This was the new "home" to a particular individual, one whose very name still brings up bad memories for those he has attempted to bring to harm.

This morning, the high security prison was the destination for Cinque and Ginga Nakajima. Upon their arrival, they met up with Shade the Echidna, who was ordered to receive them and escort them to a particular prisoner.

"Who are we meeting?" the echidna inquired of both cyborgs.

"Our true parent" Cinque answered then gave a description of the individual, "He was a truly rare genius scientist. Having obtained the fruit called knowledge, a burning ambition was ignited in his heart. And so, he sneered at the world and experimented with it.

"He collected all kinds of knowledge, from the legacy of Ancient Belka to the magic and technology of every time and place, and demonstrated their full power by fusing them to the lives of hosts and creating life.

"12 daughters served as his greatest masterpieces were born and started a revolution. Using a young life, he operated an ancient magical weapon with intent to destroy this land. But his experiment was denied in the midst of battle, and he was stopped.

"Among the 12 sisters, two never returned, seven were compelled to receive sanctions, and the remaining three, together with him, became prisoners here in this satellite orbital prison, the maximum detention facility in Mid-Childa's judiciary. His name is..."

"Doctor… Jail Scaglietti" Ginga stopped at the cellblock of the former mastermind and villain of the JS incident. The purple-haired, yellow-eyed scientist sitting somewhat boredly in his cell, clad in a suit and doctor's coat. Other cells close by held a stoic Uno, who was best described as a female clone of the scientist, Tre, a taller purple-haired late-teen-in-body.

"Oy.." the doctor said boredly, "It's been a while"

"We've discovered a connection to you in another case" Ginga went straight down to business, "And we're here to interrogate you about it."

"I've been waiting" Jail said, somewhat directing his comment to Cinque.

"I've neglected to contact you for a while, Doctor" Cinque deadpanned to her "creator".

"Ah.. Cinque, how nostalgic" The doc reminisced for a second.

"You haven't changed Doctor" Cinque noted with a small hint of barely noticeable relief, "It gives me some piece of mind.."

"I've been keeping myself healthy" The doctor confidently smirked and pounded his chest in dramatic fashion to display his health, "This glass-like prison is unexpectedly pleasant. And their wine is so exquisite."

With a roll of her eyes, Cinque dismissed the scientist's antics, "I see Tre and Uno are healthy as well"

"Tre is healthy" Scaglietti confirmed, though snuck a joke at Uno, "Though Uno has gotten quite a bit fat."

"You're one to talk" Uno immediately fired back, "You gained fifteen pounds at last week's weigh-in while I lost ten"

"Uno.." Cinque nodded to the technically oldest of her cyborg siblings.

"Five.." Uno nodded to Cinque, then regarded Ginga, "Thirteen's onee-san"

"This is a waste of time" Tre broke her silence, "Like I told the pink mutt here, we're not cooperating!"

"Tre…" Jail attempted to calm her down"It looks like today is a bit different."

"We supposedly don't have any connection to anything happening in the outside world anymore." Uno noted as well

Cinque nodded to the older number "Uno."

The woman cyborg returned the gesture "It's been a long time, Cinque."

"It has…" Cinque paused for a moment then went on to what she was there for "Um, about Sette… it's because she was one of the last to activate…"

Tre sighed with a few hints of regret "Yeah"

"Now then, despite the dangers of opening communication lines to you all, I have questions that I need to ask you." Ginga went straight to the point to avoid wasting too much time

"It could affect our imoutos. It's an important matter to us." The eye-patched Number added

"I feel good today… I don't mind." Jail shrugged

"About the man named Toredia Graze, the weapon called Mariage and this Ix character that's connected to the two. Tell me what you know." Ginga explained the elements that supposedly connected the doctor to the subject of her arrival.

Tre paused to collect her thoughts and memories "Toredia?"

Uno paused for a moment then remembered, "Oh, that sympathizer."

"Uno, please call up some simple data on Comrade Toredia." Scaglietti requested

As if figuring she'd have to, Shade started to take notes on what was to be noted about the suspect. She also took note of the questions Ginga could have.

"Very well." Uno nodded, confirming her order, "Toredia Graze: Orussia Liberation War activist. In year 0059, discovered the first Mariage. 0063, encountered the Doctor. Got assistance and began experiments on mass producing Mariage."

"I knew it…" the type-zero and Sonic's partner frowned

"I remember that much up to there." The other cyborg on the outside noted

Sure enough, Shade was following along, taking notes as she went. Oh how useful they'd be in her future when she would be able to start her own investigations.

"That man, he was dreaming of revolution!" Jail exclaimed, "He declared he wanted to participate in that 'Festival' of mine I planned!"

"Revolution?" Ginga thought a bit about the term

"He wanted others to know of pain, no they needed to know pain. He said that a lot." Scaglietti shrugged slightly, "That being said, I wasn't interested in his human oriented research. So I just humoured him a bit"

* * *

**[Mid-Childa]  
[Infinite Library]  
[BGM: "Via Purifico" Final Fantasy X OST]**

While Ginga, Cinque and Shade were busy with their interrogation of Jail Scaglietti, Sonic, Vivio, Alicia, Teana, Subaru, Erio, Caro, Fate and Nanoha were busy on their search of leads in regards to the location of where Toredia's hideout could be. That wasn't all they were doing, though.

"Psst.. Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan" Sonic ushered the wives over quietly to avoid drawing too much attention, particularly that of Teana's.

"Nani?" Fate and Nanoha asked as quietly as a whisper, they seemed to catch the quiet tone their husband had.

"I heard from Shadow a while ago." The hedgehog frowned, "He said he was being followed by a Mariage"

"Wasn't he at the 108th Batallion headquarters?" Fate asked

"I asked him to keep an eye and ear on Teana's Enforcer Aide, Runessa" Sonic started, he held his hands up in a defensive way when he got the soft, questioning glares from the duo, "Hold on, let me finish"

"Hai.." Fate sighed, "Gomen.."

"Usually you're not far off on suspicions.." Nanoha noted, "Go on"

"He gave me the short version when he was riding his motorcycle" Sonic noted, "He said that Runessa was spouting some stuff about Toredia and "their" goals…"

"Ara?" Teana drew her attention and walked over to the trio when she heard the name of her aide, "What about Rune?"

"Eh…" Sonic frowned a bit, he had hoped to not reveal his suspicions about Runessa to Teana just yet until he knew for sure that there was some real evidence against her, "This isn't going to be easy for us to say.."

"Nani?" the gunswoman asked, "What is it? Tell me, onegai! If it involves Rune, I need to know"

"There is a strong possibility that your aide is working with the Mariage" Shadow said as he joined with the others, startling a few of the librarians and helpers searching for information.

"How strong?" Teana was almost afraid to ask, if the allegation about her aide was true, it could be very troublesome for her, "This is important.."

"I'll get to her in a bit" Shadow noted, "In the meantime, get a conference together with your partner, Sonic. Tails and the engineering department need to be informed of this as well. I may have a lead"

"Roger that" Sonic agreed and put his device to work. In addition, Nanoha and Fate started setting up their devices to make a conference, Teana was involved as well, though she was ordered not to involve her aide for reasons of Shadow's suspicion.

* * *

**[Uninhabited World #9]  
[Orbital Prison]  
[No BGM]**

Ginga was in the middle of her interrogation of Scaglietti when Cinque paused for a moment to check some chatter that went about in her ear thanks to the communications.

"Where and how many units of Mariage has he made? Where is Toredia right now?" Ginga asked, hoping to get more information from the doctor.

"Hold on there for a second, Ginga" Cinque halted her, "I'm receiving an order to you from Sonic. He said he wants you in a conference, apparently a new lead popped up."

Jail just sat back and watched as both cyborgs set up devices to listen in on the conference. It now included Shadow, Sonic, Teana, Fate, Nanoha, Subaru, Erio, Caro, Carim and Hayate from the Saint Chuch.

"Alright, you have our attention" Ginga was the first to speak, "What's up?"

"Shadow "encountered" a Mariage just a half hour ago" Sonic noted with the quoted word up for anyone's interpretation.

"More like baited into a trap" the ebony hedgehog shrugged, "Regardless, I found a lead. I found the Mariage following me after I coincidentally left the 108th Batallion Headquarters for reasons of hearing some interesting things from eavesdropping on Runessa Magnus."

"Magnus…Teana-chan's aide?" Commander Hayate had to pause to confirm the identity.

"Hai.." Teana nodded, her head tilted downward, "We were working together for this very incident."

"Why?" Hayate pressed the question

"I asked him to" Sonic answered, "I was suspicious of her for some time.. plus her actions did warrant it.. She had attempted to access restricted records about the JS Incident. More importantly, about us… Riot Force 6"

"Alright, what did you find." The commander inquired.

"With the assistance of Fox boy's technology, I was able to patch into the communications that the Mariage use." The ebony hedgehog noted, "When I ambushed one that was following me I jammed her and found coordinates to a point located in the middle of the ocean."

The coordinates were put on display for Ginga to see; from there she showed them to Jail Scaglietti. The scientist had paused then smirked slightly as if he recognized the particular set of numbers.

"Recognize them?" The cyborg-investigator asked

"Hold it right there, elder sister of thirteen" Uno cut in, her use of Subaru's pen-name during the time she was unfortunately captured and mind-controlled into fighting her friends brought frowns and glares to not only her, but Ginga as well, "You've passed your cap for "free" information. Anything else from us is by exchange only."

"This isn't the time for holding out!" Sonic barked from the background in his impatience, "People's lives are at stake here!"

"It is nothing of significance" Uno noted, "We had no interest in helping you out in the first place anyway, it was merely by the Doctor's whim"

"Grrr.." Sonic grumbled in the background, but relented, "Fine, what do you want?"

"Just a vintage Belkan red wine" Jail said, "Enough for one, that is all"

"If you don't mind.." Ginga asked in curiosity, "May I ask why?"

"It's for the sake of two of my most wondrous masterpiece creations." Jail explained his motives. "It's almost the anniversary of their deaths."

"A funeral for Due and Quattro." Tre added, " There's no way anyone would punish you for granting us that."

"Is that acceptable?" Uno queried

"We'll arrange it." Sonic was quick to accept, drawing weird looks from just about everyone, "What? It's not like it's going to hurt anyone. Besides, we need the information."

"Anyways" Ginga changed the subject back to the more important one at hand, "Information about Toredia and Ix.. now"

"Ixpellia is the progenitor that gives birth to the control cores of the Mariage." Jail started

"It's a lifeform unlike the Mariage." His assistant, Uno, added from her memory "It's humanoid."

"I don't know what it looks like…" Jail noted, "Though most likely, it has the form a young woman."

"Of course" Sonic rolled his eyes, "Points to my Dread Pirate Roberts theory"

"Once it acquires an adequate energy source, it automatically produces control cores within its body. Though it's doubtful if the cores can be controlled just yet" Uno added, ignoring the hedgehog's quip

"Toredia and Ixpellia" Jail smirked, "We even know where they are now. In fact, those coordinates are the exact location you're looking for. There are ruins deep underwater, that is where you need to be. There is one other thing you need to know, about Toredia"

"What is it?" Ginga asked.

"He's been dead for four years now" Jail noted, "Devoured by Mariage

"In the middle of the ocean?!" Hayate's eyes twitched slightly in annoyance, it wasn't like she had access to that kind of manpower for the investigation the blue hedgehog was running, "How are we supposed to get there?"

"Heh heh" Sonic snickered from his end, "Get a hold of Tails and have him meet me at the Mid-Childan coastline in a half-hour. I have a plan"

With that, Sonic had disbanded the conference. Unbeknownst to them all, the Mariage had their own plan of action about to unfold. Who will win out?

**[To Be Continued]**

* * *

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 30]**

Author's Notes: Skipping the omake because I'm pressed for time slightly. Oh boy a cliffhanger, what could Sonic's plan entail? How can one access an underwater ruin anyway?! And if Toredia's dead then who's running the Mariage show?


	31. Record 31

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Alright, what could Sonic's plan be? Who's in charge of the Mariage now? Find out now!

* * *

**[Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Aircraft Carrier "**_**Long Arch"**_**: Mid-Childan Coastline]  
[Time: 1030 hours]  
[BGM: "Launch" Final Fantasy X OST]**

An hour after the important conference set up by Sonic to discuss a massive lead in the investigation of the Mariage saw Commander Hayate Yagami, of Special Mobile Force 6, hard at work in setting up a few connections for the Investigator hedgehog's plan. It wasn't easy, but she managed to arrange to temporarily borrow an Aircraft Carrier that would suit well for the operation she was about to approve.

The weather was breezy but the climate of the beach along the coast kept the temperature in the mid-50s, more importantly; the forecast had been predicted as only overcast with minimum chance of precipitation and no thunderstorms. Had the weather be more unwilling, then the mission would have been in danger.

The Aircraft Carrier, temporarily named "Long Arch" was much similar in design to other military based aircraft carriers. It was wide and had a long runway, which was suitable for aircraft to land. As the ship itself was at a slow idle along the coast, the brunette couldn't help but admire the scenery of the rushing waters beneath her.

"Oy, Hayate!" Sonic's voice shook the woman from her thoughts as the brunette commander turned to face the blue hedgehog, who was accompanied by Tails, Nanoha and Subaru, "You there?"

"Ara? Ah! Gomen! I got carried away admiring the ocean." the commander bowed in embarrassment. When she regained her focus on the task at hand, she analyzed the situation in front of her. She frowned in deep thought when she noticed that the Speed Star prototype, developed by Tails and the Engineering department, was parked on the runway of the carrier, to make sure the plan was understood, "One more time, can we run through the plan?"

"We're going to make a stealth infiltration of the Underwater Ruins located at the coordinates Shadow picked up from the Mariage" Sonic briefly summarized, "A few of the high power mages, yourself included, will blow the place up after we've secured Ix"

Tails, in a show of not only his growing confidence in the vehicle he helped to build, but also some excitement in the mission itself, opened the doors of the Speed Star, "The Speed Star will provide not only the most discreet approach to the runs, but the fastest as well." The fox couldn't help but snicker in amusement to the surprised expressions displayed by Subaru and Hayate.

"Eh?!" both girls blinked and had their mouths wide open, Hayat and Subaru were just dumbfounded as they respectively asked, "You're/W-we're D-driving there?!"

"Of course!" Sonic remarked with a smirk, a wink and his right thumb up as he entered the car through the right-hand side driver's seat.

Nanoha joined on the left-hand passenger seat in the front with her husband with a visible amount of excitement over the mission, "Subaru-chan! Come on, let's go!"

Hayate just stared and restrained herself from gawking as she saw the young cyborg file into one of the rear passenger seats of the car and the engines started up. Hoping to get some explanation, the Commander turned her head to face the smirking fox, who only returned her gaze with a smirk.

Inside the car, Sonic smirked as he shifted the gear from park into drive and suddenly applied a lot of pressure on the gas pedal and instantly the car accelerated in a burst of speed and launched itself into the ocean below.

"Kyaa!" Subaru screamed from the back in surprise.

"Relax, Subaru-chan" Nanoha assured the cyborg.

"Can you swim?" Sonic asked in a quip and with a confident grin he flicked a switch on the right arm-rest. This caused the dash-board display to change to display a few different gauges such as depth and RPM.

On the Carrier, Hayate just gawked as she watched the car literally dive into the ocean from the Aircraft Carrier. Did she just really see a car drive full-speed into the ocean?! Now she really wanted answers!

"TAILS-KUN! What the heck?!" the commander held the young mechanic up by the collar of his shirt

"H-Hayate.. relax, onegai" the fox sweated in nerves from the girl's proximity and demanding question. After he was released, the fox put on a display of the car underwater from a searcher sphere that scryed the car, "Watch.. it's part of the plan."

Underwater, the Speed Star changed into its Submarine form. The wheels retracted to the underside of the vehicle and were replaced by small rudders. The rear fender of the car extended and brought out a battery of propellers and jets, which began to spin and activate and propel the car-turned-submarine forward.

"Ignore the sinking feeling, Subaru-chan, Nanoha-chan" The blue hedgehog smirked, "Everything's under control"

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 31  
Rescue of Ix

* * *

**[Mid-Childan Coast: "**_**Long Arch"**_** Aircraft Carrier]  
[No BGM]**

Hayate was speechless, just when she could legitimately claim to have seen everything she just witnessed a car morph into a submarine while underwater. Somewhat irritated and confused, the brunette commander, for the second time, gripped the fox mechanic by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up to face her directly, eye to eye.

"What the hell possessed you to make a car that could turn into a submarine?!" The commander demanded in comical rage.

"Thought it c-could be useful" Tails gulped, "being prepared?"

Hayate released Tails from her pseudo-death-choke-grip and allowed him to experience breathing air, a necessity to live. With a sigh of exasperation, she folded her arms, "So what's next in this plan?"

The fox stood up and walked towards the inside of the ship, "We're going to the bridge to establish a connection to the Speed Star. We need to do that in order to keep in contact with them."

"I'll say this.. and I hope this will be the last time I do say it" Hayate sighed, "I've seen it all now.."

Tails smirked, _'Wait til she sees what else that car can do'_

* * *

**[Underwater]  
[No BGM]**

The Speed Star drove under the water at a fast pace. The view of the fish through the windows provided an amazing sight as the car-turned-sub glided through.

"Sugoi" Subaru finally let out the one word she could best use to describe the sights.

"Glad this mode actually works" Sonic let out a sigh that he didn't even know he was holding in, "Tails warned me that this mode was still experimental."

"Hai" Nanoha nodded in agreement, "So far so good: the stability is great, we're not taking on any water, we should be able to keep our descent going at this speed."

"Right" Sonic nodded, "And we'll be at the ruins in a few minutes."

A flicker from Blue Star and Speed Star's computer indicated that a live transmission was coming in over the communications. The hedgehog accepted the call and smiled at the friendly faces of Hayate and Tails on the other end.

"Long Arch to Blue Knight, Long Arch to Blue Knight" Tails called out on his side, "You read me?"

"Loud and clear" Sonic nodded to confirm, "We can see and hear you."

"Great" Tails sighed in relief, "The communications have been established. Alright, since we can see that from the displays, that Speed Star's working just fine, you're clear to continue on with the mission."

"Hai!" Nanoha chimed in acknowledgement, "We should be arriving at the ruins in a few minutes at this rate."

"Take your time" Tails cautioned, "They may not know you're coming, keep it that way. Preferably reach the ruins undetected, stay clear of any patrols they could have. Would you like me to give a quick rundown of the weapons and gadgets you have available?"

"Got it" Sonic nodded, "I think we already have a good idea. Magic bullets, underwater torpedoes and AMF pulse. Not like we'll need the last one, but just in case. We're going in as stealthy as possible."

"Good luck" Tails nodded, "Long Arch out"

* * *

**[108****th**** Batallion HQ]  
[BGM: "(The) Base" Sonic Adventure 2]**

While Sonic, Nanoha and Subaru initiated their part of the mission, Erio, Caro, Teana, Fate and Shadow lounged around the headquarters, awaiting the return of Ginga and Cinque from their prison visit with Jail Scaglietti.

"If Scaglietti isn't lying to us" Shadow noted, "Then there is someone else in charge of the Mariage; someone who's been in charge for at least four years"

"But who?" Fate asked the million dollar question, "There isn't much information available on Toredia for us to link to anyone officially."

"Ano" Teana spoke up, something had been eating at her mind ever since she heard the information linking Toredia to Orussia, "I think I have an idea about that.."

"What is it, Teana?" Fate queried

"Rune, my Enforcer Aide.. Runessa Magnus" the orange-haired girl reluctantly and hesitantly started, "She told me about herself when we built up enough trust… She grew up as an orphan in Southern Orussia… during a time plagued by a civil war. She said she grew up as a child soldier, firearms expert. She lived through tough times, perpetual warfare, shortage of food but a lot of weapons.."

"Teana-san.." Caro and Erio softly said, their statement didn't go finished though.

"Child soldier.. a textbook example of being impressionable" Shadow cut in with his own take, "The information about Toredia suggested he was a war activist, he could easily form a bond with Magnus.. Advise her, guide her, and at the same time, molding her to be his eventual successor."

**[BGM: "Inflexible Determination" FFX OST]**

A loud series of alarms rang out through the headquarters and break room. A communication display feed brought up Runessa's profile as she appeared to be standing in front of a flaming building.

"This is Enforcer Aide Runessa Magnus. Requesting aid" the girl said somewhat calmly with some nerves showing, "An explosion broke out in the old coastal headquarters. I think there were a few civilians here. Children too because of a field trip. Also, the fires match the methods used by the Mariage! Anyone who can, please respond."

When the transmission ended, Shadow gazed at Fate, Teana, Erio, Caro. They all were about to go out and take care of the situation when Cinque and Ginga walked in.

"You heard what she said?" Shadow asked

"We did" Ginga nodded

"It's probably a diversion" Cinque noted, "But it's worth checking out, considering also their distraction is a little too late as Sonic already is en route"

"When we see Rune there" Teana paused, "I'll deal with her first.. I need to know if I'm right or wrong about her with this.."

"I suppose you already have a plan of action laid out to deal with her?" The ebony hedgehog asked

'Hai" Teana confirmed, "And I'm going to need help from Shadow-san and Fate-san"

"We'll help in any way we can" Fate nodded

"We'll help with the civilians" Caro said with Erio nodding in agreement

"We'll handle the Mariage" Cinque declared, with the nodding approval of Ginga in the background, "I'll call Nove over to help out just in case"

"Very well" Shadow smirked, "Let's go"

The group left the break room. Cinque had to delay her departure with Ginga until she got a hold of Nove from the Nakajima residence and convince her. Cinque didn't really need to say much to convince her younger sibling as the red-head cyborg turned out to be rather bored out with the lack of action recently.

* * *

**[Underwater Speed Star]  
[BGM: "Ski Chase (also a mix featured underwater)" The Spy Who Loved Me]**

The Speed Star roamed through the ocean in its submarine mode. There was no resistance at all from the Mariage en route to the ruins, so the trio in the sub-car were able to admire the scenery of the rushing water and the old stone pillars in the ground.

"Sugoi…" Subaru gasped in awe again as she took in the amazing sights with glee. Her attention was shifted when she heard a few clicks and beeps from the front seat, "Eh? What's going on?"

"That's the navigation system" Sonic explained, "We're coming up on the target ruins now."

Sure enough, the Speed Star glided through the water and over a small sandy ledge to reveal a submerged set of ruins. They looked like a submerged temple of sorts, the most distinguishable part about these ruins was the large, light bluish, bubble-like barrier encasing the whole set of stone ruins.

"Well.. what have we here?" Sonic whistled as pressed a button on the HUD to display a communication feed to Long Arch, "Blue Knight to Long Arch.. We found the target coordinates. They look to be underneath some sort of a mahou barrier"

"Can you confirm any units of Mariage?" Tails asked on the other side.

"One moment" Nanoha requested and pressed a few buttons on her passenger-side display while the Speed Star made a lap around the large barrier, "Confirmed.. I'm picking up a small number of beings matching what we have on the Mariage. There's also a sign of unfamiliar life, one signal, that's all, but it's possible that this could be Ix"

"It looks like the barrier can be disabled by the AMF Pulse" Sonic noted, "But if this barrier's designed for life support, then that will do us no good.. at least not until we retrieve Ix"

"Infiltrate the ruins and rescue Ix." Hayate ordered, "When that's done, leave immediately and disable the field. Be careful. Long Arch out"

Sonic nodded and drove the Speed Star through a small opening that led into the ruins from underneath. As they were approaching dry-land, the car-sub shifted into car mode and silently drove up a small stone ramp that was just big enough to support the car's weight. The entrance led into a walkway that Sonic noted the car wouldn't be able to drive through. With that in mind he stopped the car and put the parking brake on.

The trio silently exited the vehicle. Nanoha and Subaru took opposite sides of the arch up ahead that led into the walkway while Sonic stayed behind momentarily to deal with the car.

"There's never any valet parking when you need it most" The hedgehog quipped as he, with a few taps on his device attached to his left wrist, controlled the car to drive in reverse down the ramp and into the water, where it then morphed into submarine mode and concealed itself in a dark corner near the ramp with the engines turned off.

Satisfied with the successful infiltration, the hedgehog turned around and approached the arch, "Right, now let's get going." The duo with him nodded and followed him into the ruins.

* * *

**[Old Coastal HQ]  
[BGM: "Enemy Attack" FFX OST]**

The scene of one of the older buildings that used to hold the coastal rescue forces for the TSAB had been kept in a pretty decent shape for the few years since the rescue forces moved to their new base. The Bureau kept this base in shape just in case it would either be needed or for a field trip, such as the case for a group of around ten to twenty elementary school-age kids, who were there for a history class. Sadly the fiery explosion caused by a Mariage attack had caused the kids, with their teacher with them, to be trapped inside while the enemy did their very best to be as destructive to the base property as possible.

Enforcer Aide Runessa Magnus watched the scene with a somewhat neutral expression; she's faced worse, though she mentally cursed herself for the involvement of young children. The aide just watched the scene unfold with her device, Silver Dagger, it had the form of a handgun similar to a glock, the design was purposeful as it could also double as a live-ammo device; because of harsh restrictions laid down by the Bureau on Mass-weapons like live-ammo weapons such as guns, she had to get a license to be approved to carry one. In the back of her mind, she was briefly relieved when she caught sight of the group consisting of Erio, Caro, Nove, Cinque and Ginga arrive with a detachment of firefighters to help not only fight the fires, but also help rescue the trapped civilians.

"Rune!" Teana's voice got the young aide's attention as her "Superior" approached her with a half-concerned-half-relieved expression.

"Enforcer Lanster" The aide nodded, "You guys came after all.."

"Update me on the situation" The enforcer requested formally, "Have you located Toredia? Mariage? Ix?"

"I took out three Mariages" the aide informed with a completely neutral expression, as if her response was well-rehearsed. There was a major flaw though in her response, and that was the slight slip of her emotions betraying her to the mention of Toredia, she quickly recovered and attempted to cover the slip with more information to report, "But I couldn't find Toredia or Ix here.. Ano, where's Investigator Takamachi? I saw his partner just rush in with some of a fire crew"

"He's held up at the Library" The enforcer answered, "I'm going in to see what I can do to help the situation.

"Good luck" The aide dismissed her senior and watch her rush into the fiery building. After she was sure that the gunswoman was out of sight, the aid thought out loud in a moment of her bad habit, "She's gone in? In this confusion, I can freely move and join them underwater. No problems with the protective clothing and I have enough bullets remaining. These flames… are the dawn of a new beginning. Although it's regrettable that a group of young civilians had to get involved, it won't matter. Within these flames of rebirth… Ix shall return as King once more. There are 32 Mariages currently mobilized a 27 of them are here, while the other 7 are underwater… But mobilized disaster rescue personnel in the area must number in the hundreds, not to mention the high-ranking mages on scene... When the Mariage return with Ix from the ruins, it won't matter. And in this situation, there are plenty of corpses waiting to be made…"

The aide's thoughts were violently interrupted as she felt a harsh pain in her back from what appeared to be a decent powered shooting spell, "Ugh! A s-shot?! From behind?!"

Runessa turned around to the source of the shot only to gasp with her mouth open wide when she saw Shadow and Fate, but the real surprise was who was in front of them… and that was Teana?!

"I guess your bad tendency of talking to yourself wasn't just an act" The enforcer quipped with her hands holding Cross Mirage in the newly acquired Blazer Mode, appearing as a much larger version of her handgun. Teana stoically had the gun-device pointed straight at her aide, "And neither was leaving your rear vulnerable.

"E-enforcer Lanster?!" Rune was just shocked, she had to double-take many time just to make sure she wasn't seeing things, "B-but I just saw you run in!"

"Heh heh" Lanster smirked slightly, the surprise she could give enemies with her tricks had started to amuse her, "An old trick from my school days"

"High speed mobility?" Magnus asked herself, "No… Illusions"

"Correct" Teana nodded, "Fake Silhouette"

"Well done.." Runessa shook her head, "You have me"

"It's pointless to resist" The enforcer informed with a frown. In the back of Teana's mind, she regretted doing this, but at the same time, she also felt betrayed herself. She thought she could trust Runessa, only to find out the aide was a turncoat for the Mariage.

"How did you figure out it was me?" Aide Magnus asked, shaking her head in defeat.

"When I mentioned Toredia's name just now, your emotions betrayed you, and you looked lonely." Teana shook her head, "Your monologue just now didn't help your defense at all though."

"We also looked into you for a bit as well" Fate added, finally breaking her silence, "You spent some time with him in Orussia, am I right?"

"We weren't related by blood" Runessa sighed, letting a few tears drop, "but we were like father and daughter. But more than that, in that land… In that blood soaked endless battlefield, we were comrades fighting for the same dream"

"Your motives were to continue his dream?" Shadow inquired to break his silent streak.

"When I was first rescued by him.. I wanted to believe in a truly peaceful world, I wanted to believe in it so badly…" there and then, Runessa dropped her façade of emotionlessness and got down to her knees and broke out in tears, "but it was a hollow hope. The only thing different was there was more people. No matter where I looked people… fought each other… hurt each other… murdered each other everywhere! Toredia-Otou-san fell into despair by the reality, and he wanted the world to realize"

"Realize what?" Teana asked

"What it meant to fight" Magnus sighed, "The despair, the grief…"

"When we were together" the lead enforcer, Teana, sighed regretfully, "I wished I had talked to you more"

"Even if you did" Runessa shook her head in defeat, "I wouldn't have changed my mind."

Subjected to binding spells by Enforcer Lanster, Aide Runessa Magnus was arrested on the spot for her part in the Mariage attacks. Teana and Fate watched as Shadow guided her away and en route to the holding cells.

"I thought I could trust her.." Teana sighed, tears slowly dropping from her face in regret and sadness, "I should have talked to her more.. When I asked her to become my partner, I was serious.."

"It's over for her.." Fate regretfully sighed, "You learned a lesson here, now it's time to move on."

"Hai.." Teana regretfully and reluctantly nodded and turned away to join the efforts in fighting the Mariage for real with Fate in tow.

* * *

**[Underwater Ruins: Interior]  
[BGM: "Pursuit" Final Fantasy X OST]**

With Nanoha and Subaru huddled against a wall that intersected a hallway where a lone Mariage was walking in a patrol and search pattern; patrolling for unwanted company and searching for Ix; Sonic had paused to take an audio transmission.

"Seven? We are sure?" The hedgehog asked, and then nodded when the reply came in his ear, "We'll take care of them. Blue Knight out."

Sonic joined Nanoha and Subaru in their stealth huddle against the wall, "They arrested Runessa for her involvement, but not before hearing her report that there were only seven Mariage in this scouting party."

"Should be easy enough" Nanoha nodded, "Just take out one at a time, stealthily, just remember our objective is Ix."

The hedgehog smirked as he took the lead and studied the Mariage for a moment. When the target unit turned her back and walked down the hall, Sonic stealthily went into action. With some skill, he stealthily approached the unsuspecting unit and, taking a rare advantage in the usual size disadvantage, leaped with his arms extended, gripped the woman on the head and let gravity do the work. The unusual tactic worked as the Mariage was forced down with a powerful drag; she was a bit dazed from the impact of her head on the stone floor, but that was long enough for Sonic to finish her with a fist to the head.

"Unorthodox" Nanoha quipped, "But it worked."

The group travelled on through the halls, carefully as to not be caught by any patrols. It worked until they reached another block. Two Mariage patrolled another hall together in their search for Ix.

"Say.. Nanoha, this may be a stupid question considering your family" Sonic sheepishly asked, "But I don't suppose you learned any…"

His question was left unanswered as Nanoha, with stealth like a ninja, snuck up on the unsuspecting duo and quickly had the two in a choke-hold with Raising Heart's pole to their neck, form there, the white mage turned her back and forcefully hoisted them both over her shoulders and flipped them to the ground. The choke hold was effective to cut air supply from both units and they went limp from suffocation.

"Skills in stealth.." The hedgehog frowned slightly as he couldn't answer his question, "Nevermind… you are sooo teaching us that!"

Nanoha smirked in amusement, she would never forget the lessons her family drilled into her from the training she had requested from them so she wouldn't always have to rely on magic.

The group moved on until they encountered another Mariage patrol. Subaru, deciding she wanted in on some of the fun, rolled up to the unsuspecting unit and just dazed the foe with her cybernetic fists in a double hammer punch. The cyborg then delivered a powerful left hook to the face with her revolvers spinning and then finished the unit off with a deadly right hook.

With no other resistance, the trio moved on until they found what looked like a stone door guarded by two Mariage. The duo were apparently waiting for another unit because they couldn't get into the room behind the door. At least that's what it looked from the view of the trio.

Sonic and Nanoha nodded to one another from opposite sides of an arch and quickly revealed themselves. Before the Mariage could react though, they were quickly taken out by head-shots courtesy of Sonic and Nanoha's well-aimed and combined Axel Shooter.

Wasting no time to wait for the possibility of the last Mariage unit, Sonic leaned against the stone door and listened in for any signs of life. He heard a small sigh from a female voice the other end. The voice didn't sound any similar to the Mariage's, so the hedgehog had to conclude that this voice belonged to Ix. Or at least there was a strong possibility.

"I think we found our target" Sonic whispered to the other two with him, "I'll deal with this door.

The duo nodded as Sonic backed up a bit and smirked, "Stone door.. meet hedgehog spin-dash!" The blue hedgehog spun into his all-time favorite bread-and-butter skill, the spin-dash. With a lot of power generated from the fast rotations, Sonic launched off and shattered the door with one hit.

Sonic uncurled into a kneeling position for a split-second to get his bearings in order. Satisfied by his work, the hedgehog wiped the dust from his shoulders with his gloves, and while doing so he was joined by Nanoha and Subaru.

"Eek!" The individual on the other side of the door squealed in surprise from the sudden appearance of the trio. She had the appearance of a young girl of approximately 10 years old with long orange hair and green eyes. She was wearing a pink short-sleeved dress that looked fit for warmer climates, due to the short skirt that ended just past her waist, allowing her bare legs to show and she had shoes on as well.

"So you're the "Dread Pirate Roberts"? aka Ixpellia" Sonic quipped in his question with a smirk, "Or better known to the Mariage as Ix?"

"H-hai" Ix nervously nodded and had her attention solely on the blue hedgehog, "Um.. Who are you? A familiar? Guardian Beast?"

"Oyoyoy.. Relax.. I'm Sonic Takamachi" the hedgehog smirked in greeting with a thumbs up in a light-hearted attempt of friendliness that sort of failed because it didn't do much to ease the girl's nerves.

Ix shook her head and looked at the hedgehog's companions. She had a plainly obvious sigh of relief when she found that both individuals appeared to be human, "Who are you two?"

"Takamachi Nanoha, Captain from the Time-Space Administration" Nanoha bowed politely, though she amusingly quipped mentally to her husband, _'I don't think you've impressed her yet, Sonic-kun.'_

"Subaru Nakajima, from the rescue corps." Subaru smiled brightly, "We're here to rescue you"

"Rescue?" Ix queried, somewhat skeptical that someone would care enough about her to make an attempt to "save" her. It didn't help that she was in the presence of the blue hedgehog, who she found to be quite odd and was unsure of how to regard him since he had the appearance of a familiar but no apparent master.

"Hai hai.." Sonic nodded and gripped the girl by her forearm, "Let's go. Our ride's waiting for us"

"Kyaaa!" Ix comically shrieked as she was dragged away.

The group, with a very unwilling Ixpellia in tow, things were looking up and they were just about to return to the area where Sonic parked the Speed Star when the leader-type of the Mariage blocked their path stoically.

"You shall go no further" The woman stoically informed as her right arm morphed into a live-ammo type gun similar to a rifle, "Give up and release Ix"

With no hesitation, the woman fired the weapon. The shot hit Subaru square in the leg as she leaped to take the hit for Sonic and Nanoha.

"Ugh!" the girl grunted in pain as the bullet made her bleed from the leg wound. Despite her pain, the cyborg managed to land a right cross to the Mariage's face.

Quite a bit ticked off, Sonic handed Ix to Nanoha for her to handle and at the same time help Subaru out while the hedgehog sprang into action.

"You're going to regret that" the hedgehog snarled, his anger intimidated not only Ix greatly, but also had the Mariage leader off guard for a moment, a moment which he capitalized.

Quickly, Sonic rushed forward in his spin-dash and impacted the Mariage's midsection. He followed up by uncurling into a powerful right roundhouse kick to the head that slammed her into the wall and into the ground. Sonic finished off with a powerful point blank spin-dash to the midsection.

**[BGM: "Launch" FFX OST]**

Not wasting any time, the hedgehog called back the Speed Star, which drove half-way up the ramp and opened its doors wide for entry.

"Get in!" Sonic grabbed Ixpellia before she could react and threw her in the passenger seat, then helped Nanoha to get an injured and groaning-in-pain Subaru into the passenger seat. Quickly, Nanoha hoped into the passenger seat in front and Sonic was about to join her in the driver's seat when he paused because there was movement from the Mariage.

"It's useless.." The woman droned out as she held out a grenade with the safety pin already removed and slowly liquefied into flammable oil, her last words were what shocked Ix the most, "More will come.. you shall not get away with our Ix"

"We'll have to see about that then" Sonic countered as he quickly entered the vehicle, shifted it into sub-mode and with all haste blazed out of the exploding ruins.

It was the exact opposite of smooth sailing for the Speed Star. The explosion had dealt quite some damage to the armor, and in addition, the car-sub took even more damage to its body and frame on the way out in its haste. To make matters worse, the vehicle was slowly taking in water from a small crack in the roof due to the stones from the ruins.

"Damn.. We're taking on water" Sonic frowned as he drove the ship to barely escape the ruins, "We're taking on water fast.. and the surface is a far distance."

"Guess this puts a damper in your rescue" Ix said regretfully.

"We're not dead yet, Ix-san" Sonic sighed, he really didn't care much for formalities, but considering who he's talking to, he had little choice, "I rarely use the "–san" honorific missy.."

"Yet you're being polite to me because I'm a 'King'" Ix noted.

"Then "Majesty" will be far more appropriate," Sonic snickered, "Although the Sainkt Kaiser absolutely HATES when she's called that"

"You know the Sainkt Kaiser?" Ix asked, actually curious this time.

"Hai!" Subaru nodded through the winces of her injured leg, "She's my e-mail friend."

"And we" Nanoha indicated herself and Sonic, "Adopted her as our daughter. She also has an onee-chan and another kaa-san"

"You're lying" Ix frowned, "There's no way that you know her. When I awoke before, the Sainkt Kaiser royal family and all of Ancient Belka were gone."

"That is true…" Sonic noted as he continued to drive.

Ixpellia explained her past further, "In the past for over a thousand years, people continued to fight each other. I and Mariage, the Sankt Kaiser and the Cradle, were born as weapons to end the war. They demanded that we personally end the war in triumph as victors with our strength. But what we reaped was nothing but death, chaos and yet more wars. This mistake of I, Ixpellia. The failure of those who sought conquest. The mistake of the Sankt Kaiser."

"Ano" Nanoha asked, "What do you mean mistake?"

"Everything was a mistake." Ixpellia frowned sadly, "We must not be allowed to exist in this era that is why… I must erase myself because I can't die."

The trio of Sonic, Subaru and Nanoha frowned at each other and then, in all seriousness, and at the same time; the three forcibly poked the young girl not too hard, but enough for a sting, on her forehead.

"Owie!" Ixy comically cried and had three very visible red marks on her forehead, "What was that for?"

"Gomen.." Subaru said politely, "That's what we call a 'poke to the forehead'. It's something we do to punish dumb kids"

"Although Nanoha's usual method involves a slap" Sonic quipped

"You and Fate-chan spoil" Nanoha pouted, getting the blue hedgehog to smirk and chuckle.

"B-baka?" Ix was taken aback, she knew the definition of the word of course, but failed to see how it applied to her at the moment.

"A kid shouldn't be talking about dying or erasing themselves!" Sonic explained with a serious expression that Ix could tell he had from the mirror, "We can discuss and figure all this out fuly later at a safer location"

"How old do you think I am?" Ixpellia sounded a bit offended by the "kid" comment considering her actual age, "I'm far older than you all combined!"

"You look like a kid!" Subaru deadpanned through a wince, "Besides, people who talk like you are not adults."

"Alright, girls hang on tight" Sonic declared as his left hand hovered over another switch and the underwater engines of the Speed Star speed up to full speed, "We're about to reach the surface!"

* * *

**[Aircraft Carrier "**_**Long Arch"**_**]  
[No BGM]**

The explosion of the ruins was seen from the bridge of the carrier in the form of a large boom and an eruption of water from the impact.

"Hayate-san!" Tails informed, "Speed Star's display is alerting that it took damage!"

"Nani?!" the commander cried in surprise, "Damage? Is it okay? That explosion.."

"They're heading for the surface.."

Other communications from the devices of the mages on the scene of the fire joined in on a shared transmission channel. They reported that the Mariage were dispatched with little issue and the fire was contained to minimum damage and no harm to civilians. From there everyone watched the coast in hope for the safety of the team dispatched to rescue Ix.

"This is good.." Hayate sighed in relief, "Now we can hope that Sonic and his team made it out safe.

Just a minute after the loud explosive burst of water and in the view of everyone watching, another burst of water developed and something medium sized literally hopped out of the water and into the air in a burst of speed.

**[BGM: "Victory Fanfare" Final Fantasy IX]**

Close-ups of the figure revealed it to be the Speed Star, only in a different form that just shocked all but Tails. The vehicle now was an airplane with an arrow-like design to the frame and wide wings in the rear attached to a large fighter-jet engine that roared with life and exhaust.

"Blue Knight to Long Arch and all others present" Sonic's confident voice declared.

* * *

**[Speed Star: Airborne]**

"We've evacuated the ruins" Sonic smirked as he continued his report, "Subaru has a light injury from a wound, so we're heading for the Saint Church hospital. Anyone who wants to join is is more than welcome to"

The hedgehog closed the connection on his side and piloted the Speed Star in airplane form toward the destination of the Saint Church.

"What the hell?!" Ixy shouted comically in her surprise, "W-we're flying?!"

"Correct!" Nanoha chimed with a few giggles

If Subaru wasn't busy nursing her injured leg she would have been more surprised, at the moment she groaned as the wound still bled out, "Hurry.. onegai"

"We're going.." Sonic nodded

The Speed Star airplane blazed on to the Saint Church.

* * *

**[To Be Continued]**

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 31]**

Author's Notes: Omakes shall be next week, for reasons that this chapter's already big enough.


	32. Record 32

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Sorry for the lack of post last weekend, I was just swamped with work, still am, so I'm barely able to get this out. College work is piling up and I'm working twice as hard with finals coming soon.

* * *

**[Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Saint Church Hospital]  
[Time: 1345 hours (1:45)]  
[BGM: "Blue Fields" Final Fantasy VIII OST]**

Somehow, though it wasn't too much of a surprise to Sonic and Nanoha, the duo of Ixpellia; who they just rescued from the underwater ruins just a few moments ago; and Subaru; who had taken a bullet to her cybernetic leg to protect the "young king", had both fallen asleep during the flight. The flight to the Hospital was peaceful and without issue or delay. Both Takamachis checked the duo in the hospital for check-ups and just overall rest.

She didn't even realize she fell asleep, so it was of little surprise that Ixpellia had to double take rapidly a few times in the unfamiliar confines of a cozy hospital room, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Ixy unintentionally made a few soft noises to voice her confusion, and that alerted the other resident in the hospital room to her state of awakening.

"Konnichiwa, Ixpellia" Subaru's voice suddenly brought the surprised light-orange-haired "kid". The cyborg energetically smiled when she saw that eye contact was made between the two, "How are you feeling?"

"Tired" Ixy answered, "Did I fall asleep somehow?"

"Hai" Subaru confirmed with a friendly nod, "I think we both fell asleep during that plane trip here."

Ixpellia took a brief look outside the open curtain of the Saint Church hospital and just fell speechless at what she saw. The Speed Star, in car form, was parked in the parking lot right across from the side of the building where her room was. From her vantage point on the 3rd floor, the girl could see what she thought was a yellow fox working on the car.

"E-eh?!" Ix cried in surprise, pointing to the window, "I-is that a fox?!"

"Ara?" Subaru followed her temporary roommate's gaze and just smiled, "Oh that's Tails-kun. He's really good with machines"

"Is there anyone on this world who's human?!" Ixpellia asked in exasperation.

"Well that depends on how you define 'human', Ixpellia" Sonic's voice suddenly was heard from the entryway of the small hospital room.

"Eep!" Ix, in surprise and a small amount of nerves, quickly hid behind the closest person she could find, who just so happened to be an amused Subaru Nakajima. She, along with the cyborg glanced at the blue hedgehog, who was only just leaning against the doorway.

"Yo!" the famous blue blur gave a small wave from his spot against the wall.

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 32  
Aftermath of the Rescue

* * *

**[Saint Church Hospital]  
[BGM: "The Gapra Whitewood" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

To Ixpellia, a young girl who used to be the "Dark King" of Galea in the warring ages of the timeline, she had initially thought her reputation in this timeline would have led to circumstances of imprisonment or fear by the individuals who rescued her. So it was quite the shock to see the blue hedgehog she had initially feared because of a not-so-great first impression actually greeting her formally and friendly.

"W-where am I?" the young (in body) girl asked

"Church of the Saint King" The hedgehog answered and then sent a mischievous smirk to Ixpellia, "You fell asleep during the flight here"

"You brought me here" Ix observed, "Why?"

"A few reasons actually" Sonic counted off, "First, obviously because Subaru got shot and we needed to get her treated"

"Mou.." Subaru pouted a bit and pointed to the leg that got shot, revealing to Ixpellia that it was mechanical, "It's not that bad.."

"Still going to need a cast for that, at least for this week" the hedgehog shook his head, "Shamal's orders"

"Right.." That ended the argument on Subaru's end, after all, when it comes to medical decisions, Subaru and Sonic knew full well not to disregard orders from Shamal

"Ano…" Ixpellia attempted to get the hedgehog's attention. In truth, she was still somewhat nervous of Sonic, perhaps a bit fearful from the first impression, "Sonic-san?"

"Oyoy.." Sonic shook his head and face-palmed his forehead, "Don't use the "san" honorific with me. I'm friendly, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Eh.." the young girl just blinked, "What was the second reason I'm here?"

Sonic smirked a little bit and pointed is thumb in the direction of the doorway he was leaning next to. As if on cue, Vivio poked her blonde head through. The young Kaiser turned towards her adoptive "papa" and sent him a look of questioning. The blue hedgehog nodded in confirmation and turned to face Ixpellia with a friendly grin.

"Okay, intro time" Sonic declared, "Who's first?"

"I'm Vivio." Vivio politely bowed in her greeting, "It's nice to meet you"

"I'm Ixpellia" Ix introduced herself, "You can call me "Ix" if you want. I assume you're the Sainkt Kaiser, you look just like her.. maybe a bit younger"

"Hai.. and I do have a few memories of you. Fuzzy but still there" Vivio nodded, "Though, if you call me "Majesty" I will hurt you"

"She means it" Sonic nodded jokingly, "Heck of a right hook she's got"

"Sonic-papa!" Vivio pouted cutely in embarrassment

"It's true" the blue hedgehog defended his snarky comment

"Ano.. Vivio, right?" Ix asked, when she got the young Kaiser out of her mini-pout rant she nervously pointed to the blue hedgehog, "Did you just call him "papa"? why?"

"Because Sonic-papa is my papa" the heterochromatic girl answered like it was obvious, "I don't really understand why you're nervous around him. He's funny, nice and caring. I love that about him"

"Oy oy.. you're going to make me blush" the hedgehog slightly deadpanned, "Though the compliments are nice."

"I'm a bit nervous because he looks like a familiar without a master" Ixpellia slightly explained, "And he can bust through walls and kinda look scary doing it"

"Masters? Me? Have any?" Sonic snickered a bit at the irony. He didn't know it, but as he was retorting, he failed to notice the familiar figures of Fate and Nanoha right behind him, "Do wives count? I got two"

"Ano…" both Vivio and Subaru had attempted to get Sonic's attention during the question, but they were too late

"Eh?" All Sonic could do was blink and had quite the expression of a deer caught in the headlights look to him, "They're right behind me, aren't they?"

A simultaneous nod was shared amongst the three girls. Ixpellia didn't know the other blonde-yellow haired woman, so she had to assume that this was the other "wife" that Nanoha and Sonic had mentioned they were married to. The blue hedgehog sweat-dropped a bit and turned to face his somewhat amused wives.

"Uh.. hey girls." Sonic grinned sheepishly in an attempt stop from digging himself deeper into the hole he was in. Much to his chagrin, the girls had a shared look of mischief with their grins, "Shoot.."

"We'll get back to you on that" Nanoha smiled, then turned to face Ixpellia, "How are you feeling?"

"A bit winded" as if to emphasize her point, Ixpellia yawned a bit cutely with her hand covering her mouth, "But I'll be okay"

"It was nice to meet you, Ix" Vivio cutely smiled, "I look forward to being your friend and being able to get to know you"

"Ano… about that.." Ixpellia sounded quite a bit regretful to say what came up in her mind after hearing the young Vivio, "I don't think I'll be able to be your friend.."

"Why?" Vivio asked

"I was woken up too early…" Ix explained, "I need to sleep.. rather.. Hibernate is a better term.. When I was woken up.. it was too early and I didn't.. and still don't have, enough energy to control the Mariage.. If I'm allowed to sleep, they won't bother you."

"You don't have to do that" Sonic frowned, in part, he wasn't really sure if he was "qualified" to say that. After he checked the two in the medical staff, under Shamal's directive, made a few diagnoses of Ixpellia's condition. Eventually she would have to fall into a state of a lengthy sleep in order to regain her energy. The process could easily take up to a thousand years. Sonic, with the experience of witnessing something similar in his past a few months prior to his first trip to Mid-Childa in the first place, was not about to give up on this one, "There could be another way. You won't have to fall asleep, and the Mariage won't trouble us. In fact, it is possible we could get you to be able to control them."

"You think you can honestly look me in the eye and promise all of that?" Ix retorted with a frown and a few tears leaking from her eyes, "And this way you mention. Say it does work and I don't have to hibernate, what then? How can you help me control the Mariage when I have no power? They're tools for war! A war that neither I, nor the Sankt Kaiser had any real desire in fighting in the first place during the Warring ages, but we had to because of the overwhelming pressure."

"Things are different, Ixpellia-san" Vivio argued, "I'm not the Sankt Kaiser anymore. That may have been me in the past live, but today I'm Takamachi Vivio. I'm not sure how it was during my past life, but I remember enough to know it was hard. I still get nightmares.."

"So long as I'm here, I'm a nightmare" Ix sighed downcast, "To everyone.. There's nothing for me here anyway"

"Oy.. Ix" The blue hedgehog had decided he had heard enough self-depreciation for one day and calmly placed his right arm on the girl's shoulder, he not only surprised her with the contact, he also made her a bit nervous, "Enough of that. There's plenty of things here for you to live for here. Vivio wants to be your friend, and I see you're already got an attachment for Subaru"

"Eh?" Ix blinked, then realized she was still holding on to Subaru's right arm. With a comical blush of embarrassment the young girl pulled away, "Kyaa!"

"Gotcha" Sonic snickered and clicked a button on the camera he had somehow snuck out of the notice of the others in the room, "You have a lot to live for here"

"Still.." Ixpellia sighed, "Until now… Every time I awoke, Mariage would arise and go forth to the battlefield. Outside the castle was nothing but gray skies, barren lands and blood-stained seas. I had never seen anything else in the world. I wondered when I would sleep again. When will the age come when I no longer have to kill any more?"

"You don't have to kill.." Fate noted, "There's no reason for you to kill anyone anymore. There's no pressure on you to fight, you can live as yourself the way you wanted to live."

"Killing... pressure… they were all that I could think of." Ix nodded, "But, I managed to meet you guys and realize I was wrong. There are people who would die for themselves only and those who would give their lives for others. The world, that I and my people had brought ruin upon this world so long ago. That this world has become so beautiful again is because of people like you."

"Now don't be giving us all the credit" Sonic wagged his finger teasingly, "There's plenty of other people who work hard to keep the world safe and beautiful."

"I'd like to be able to see the beauty" Ix noted in some glimmer of hope, "But I don't know if anyone will like me much because of who I am"

"Forget about the reputation you had during the Warring Ages. The history books aren't always the most accurate" Fate noted, "Your past doesn't matter much now, all that matters is what you're going to do in the present"

"You'll be able to see the whole world if you wish.." Nanoha added, "Just let Sonic-kun try the idea he has. Onegai.. for the people who want to be your friends."

"Onegai!" Vivio added, pleadingly with the most adorably unresistable puppy-dog eye pleading look a girl could ever have. She pulled it off so masterfully it got everyone in the room to silently admire the cuteness

"You guys aren't willing to let it go, are you.." Ix sighed in exasperation, "Fine.. try it, but if it doesn't work, I will need to hibernate"

"Oy oy.. put some pressure on me eh?" Sonic snarked as the seven Chaos Emeralds began to revolve around him, glowing with power, power that was bestowed upon the blue hedgehog. The emeralds transformed him from the cool-blue hedgehog, to the golden-yellow furred, crimson eyed, Super Sonic, "Ah.. been awhile since I last used this form. Okay, here's my shot"

"Eh?" Ixpellia was briefly taken aback by the display of power in just the transformation and the aura the hedgehog gave off. She, in her surprise, was left wide open for the golden hedgehog to tightly grip her right wrist with his glowing hand.

She felt a tremendous amount of power flowing tight into her. The power made her feel warm on the inside. More than that, the power felt so, good, so reinvigorating to the young "king". No longer did she feel the need to rest or hibernate, she felt completely rejuvenated.

The hedgehog, on the other hand, pretty much depleted all the chaos energy he could use in what he could best describe as a chaos version of an energy shot. The chaos emeralds, temporarily out of power, fell to the ground as Sonic's super transformation was cancelled.

"Whew.." The hedgehog almost fell to the ground, but was saved thanks to the quick hands of Nanoha and Fate. He ended up hanging with his arms around their necks and shoulders.

"It….worked.. I think… no.. wait.. I know!" Ix suddenly jumped up, reinvigorated and rejuvenated with energy, "I don't feel a need to rest at all."

"Great!" Subaru and Vivio cheered equally

"We're not done yet" Nanoha noted, "There's still a matter of the Mariage. We can handle making a device that will allow you to handle them, but for the moment, while we're having that taken care of, you are to remain here to rest. Sonic will be here in the morning to pick you up and take you to get your device"

"Hai…" Ix nodded in compliance

"Come along Vivio" Fate said, "Alicia was making cookies before we left."

"I love Alicia-onee-chan's baking" Vivio nodded, "I love to help her too."

With that, the family left for home. Leaving Subaru and Ixpellia to rest and recuperate from the long day and the events that had transpired.

* * *

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 32]**

Author's Notes: Time squeezed me again.. the omakes shall be back!


	33. Record 33

Welcome back everyone, SonicANIME2010 here, with yet another installment to Lyrical Record. Last chapter was a bit short, and no promises about this one, but I'm still going to deliver a chapter. Here we go now.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Saint Church Hospital]  
[BGM: "The Gapra Whitewood" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

Initially, when Ixpellia woke up in the cold hospital room to the dim light of the overcast morning, she was a bit confused as to where she was. The confusion faded when she remembered the events from the previous day. Her rescue thanks to Sonic, Nanoha and Subaru, who wasn't in the same room with her like she remembered.

Ixpellia yawned softly and cutely as she stretched her arms to wake up. She was briefly surprised when Shamal entered the room to check up on her.

"Ohayo gozaimasu (Good Morning)" The kind, light-blonde haired woman smiled politely in greeting.

"Ohayo…" Ix couldn't really say too much as she was still a bit shocked by what happened in the past day. No longer would she have a need to hibernate and if all went well she could live a peaceful life on Mid-Childa with a couple of friends. Speaking of one, she noticed Subaru was missing, "Where's Subaru?"

"She was released earlier this morning" Shamal informed, "Teana, her close friend, along with her mother and older sister, came by to pick her up."

"Oh.." The girl looked down and found her hands gripping the hem of her Chinese-style dress.

"She said that she was sorry to be leaving you so quick, but she'll like to make it up to you" the medic noted, "She's offered to take you to lunch today with Teana when you're released, granted you have the permission from your caretaker"

"I'd like to take her up on that then, since she's offering" Ix nodded, though after a moment of thinking about what was said, she had to ask, "Caretaker?"

"Ara ara.. silly me" Shamal chastised herself sheepishly, "I forgot to mention that. The Bureau's assigning a caretaker for you to live with for a month or so until it's determined that you're able to safely live here."

"And who's going to be my caretaker?" Ixpellia curiously asked.

"That would be yours truly" In a matter of seconds, Ixpellia's answer came when Sonic walked in suddenly. The blue hedgehog once again surprised her with a friendly wave and grin.

* * *

**[Opening: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 33  
Adjustments and Changes

* * *

**[Saint Church Hospital: Parking Lot]  
[BGM: "Archelyte Steppe" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

The Speed Star laid in park with the engine off. It was in its standard car mode. The doors open to allow Sonic and Ixpellia to enter. Initially, the girl was a bit nervous and unsure about the safety of the vehicle, compounded with her ever-so-present nerves about the blue hedgehog assigned to be her "care-taker".

"That thing's not going to turn into some aircraft or something, is it?" Ix asked, voicing her nerves.

"Oyoy, relax" Sonic snickered a bit, "That mode's inactive. Tails made sure of that. He deactivated both plane and sub modes, so you don't have to worry about that"

"Whew" Ix sighed as she entered the car from the left passenger seat, "Where are we going first? Subaru offered to take me to lunch today"

"I heard, and we'll take her up on that offer" Sonic nodded as he entered the car through the driver side, "but first we'll be heading for the engineering department in the Bureau, we'll be picking up the device they built for you"

"For the Mariage?" Ix assumed

"Hai" Sonic confirmed, started the engine for the Speed Star, and started to drive off and away from the church.

The drive itself was quite peaceful for them both really. Sonic had the radio on, but no music played, instead he opted to listen to some news radio, partly out of a habit he picked up in his job, but also because the news was covering the recent incident, and the hedgehog wanted to make sure what was being actual reported, sensitive information after all.

"Good.." Sonic thought out loud, "Media's keeping the coverage solid."

"Will they have to talk to me?" Ix asked, somewhat nervous about said question

"Nah.. Bureau's request" Sonic shrugged, "They requested that the media doesn't talk to anyone until the case is officially closed. So don't worry that cute Chinese dress of yours"

"Hai…" Ix sighed, only for her curiosity to kick in after processing what Sonic said, "Eh? Chinese?"

"Heh heh" The blue hedgehog snickered a bit as he changed lanes on the highway, "Reference from home"

"Okay…" Ixpellia had just felt arguably her first taste of the awkward moments culture shocks usually bring about, and she found herself lightly gripping the hem of her chinese-style dress. Maybe her feet had become more interesting at the moment, or she was fighting off some awkwardness from the nervous emotions she continued to feel about the blue hedgehog.

* * *

**[TSAB Main HQ]  
[BGM: "The Red Wings" Final Fantasy IV]**

The rest of the drive went on peacefully and rather quickly, considering the lack of traffic in the early morning hours. The Speed Star passed through a toll-gate like booth and into the parking lot for the main TSAB branch.

"We're here" Sonic said after parking the car. He shut off the engine, exited the vehicle and then opened the passenger-side door politely for Ixpellia, "Here"

"A-arigatou" the girl flinched slightly after letting her hand graze the gloved hand of the hedgehog's. She brushed off any dust that could have gotten on her dress and waited for the hedgehog to close and lock the car up.

After locking the car up and everything, Sonic guided Ixpellia into the headquarters. They checked in at the front desk and indicated the locations where they would be going to during the course of their visit.

"We're going to be busy this morning" the hedgehog spoke as he and Ix walked down a hallway, "First to the Engineering division to pick up the device they made for you. Then the Enforcer division so I can make sure all the reports from yesterday were filed in correctly, not to mention I gotta heckle at the humorous incompetence of some of the higher ups. Oy! This job ain't easy!"

"Not really sure if that last one should be so important" Ixpellia softly deadpanned at the last task Sonic mentioned. She must have not said it soft enough, because the blue hedgehog caught it with those sharp ears of his.

"Oy oy.. I can heckle at them all I want" Sonic sent a not so serious but more playful glare at the young girl. In a display of evil comicalness and cheesiness, the hedgehog rubbed his gloved hands together, snickering slightly, "After all…. I've got plenty of ammunition."

"Something tells me you're not joking" Ixy commented, a large anime-style sweat-drop appeared on her temple.

"Nope" The hedgehog quickly shook his head, "Now let's get going."

"H-hai.." Ixpellia sighed

The first part of the long trip went as planned; Ixpellia was fitted with a bracelet-shaped device made by Tails and the engineering division. According to Tails, Ix would be able to control the source of power utilized in making the Mariage, and with the help from the Chaos power she received yesterday, she should be able to literally overpower the wills of those she created. Just to be safe, though, they had her run a test by creating a low-powered Mariage. At first, from just the experience alone, Ixy was a bit nervous about if she should keep them around, but with the support and reassurance that the units would be demolished if they were to grow out of her control on the spot, she maintained a sense of dominance over them. That being said, the success also came to the relief of the engineers themselves. They were too quite unsure about if the device they made could have worked to control the Mariage.

Nevertheless, the first task went on smoothly, and after a congratulatory pat on the back of Tails for his job well done, Sonic escorted the young "king" out of the division, preferably before they could get lectured on techno mumbo jumbo. The next part of the trip had Sonic and Ixpellia go to the Enforcer's Division. Getting in was troublesome, with Sonic having to identify himself, identify his guest, assure them that said guest would not bring them harm, just about the usual routine.

After confirming that all of the reports were filed in on time and consistent with the events that occurred yesterday, Sonic dragged Ixpellia over to another area in the division. He certainly knew what he was doing, because as it turned out, one of the "higher-ups" in the Bureau was scheduled to make a speech congratulating the investigators and Enforcers who helped to resolve the Mariage incident. The speech ended with the higher up boasting a bit about the TSAB's readiness for any situation.

"Watch this.." Sonic told Ix as he motioned her to stay back; the hedgehog moved up a few steps, knowing full well that he could definitely be heard from where he was at. The blue blur, in a display of his somewhat trademark loudmouth, snarked out the higher up, "Yeah.. "readiness".. I'm sure that's what you call allowing two destructive incidents to occur on an "non-administrated" world"

"What are you talking about?" The higher up seemed a bit miffed, while the Enforcers, a majority of them female, sighed at the sight, they've known the hedgehog long enough to hear the story behind this particular reference many times, and it wasn't exactly the finest hour for the TSAB.

"Flashback.. around five or so years ago.. Non-Administrated Planet #97, or as us locals call it, "earth". A large space station, codenamed "Space Colony ARK", blew up half of the moon orbiting the planet with a powerful cannon. And then, during the same incident, some experimental project merged with said Colony and almost destroyed the planet by way of force."

"We're aware of that incident.." The individual said with some amount of composure, though he appeared to be slightly sweating in nerves, "There wasn't anything we could do. I hope our condolences for the injured would suffice."

"What did you guys do after it all happened?" Sonic asked, hoping to get some answers to that particular question, something that's been bothering his mind on and off for a few years.

"We checked up on the planet and found that there were already a few young mages residing there, and asked that they look into it.. unofficially, of course" The official answered, "your GUN can be a bit touchy about jurisdictions."

"Who'd you ask?" Sonic inquired.

"Enforcer Fate Harlaown and Instructor Takamachi, if I read the reports right" The individual answered, "You'll best ask them or retired Admiral Gil Graham, he's the one that set up the meeting between them and a GUN official for questioning purposes."

"Alright.. I'll ask them" Sonic shrugged and pulled Ixpellia away, "Meanwhile, we've got a little lunch "date" to attend to."

* * *

**[Restaurant]**

Subaru and Teana had invited Sonic and Ixpellia out to lunch at a great café just a few miles away from the main headquarters. In addition, they had also invited Nanoha and Fate to tag along for the lunch date

Everyone each ordered sandwiches and tea; it was very enjoyable and Ixpellia was able to be at peace and enjoy said sandwich; which was made of wheat bread, sliced ham and cheese. Meanwhile, Sonic was eying his two wives, not accusingly, of course, more along the lines of curiosity.

Nanoha and Fate blinked under the gaze, they weren't entirely sure what was on Sonic's mind, but by guessing that since he was staring at them, they'd have something to do with his thoughts. They decided to give the issue a few minutes before pressing it.

Sonic, for his part, didn't really seem too bothered by the questions about the ARK incident. If what the higher-up he heckled at said was true, then if he asked, Nanoha and Fate would most likely give the answers he'd appreciate.

When they sat, Nanoha and Fate finally decided to press the issue with Sonic and his fish-eyed stare they were on the opposite end of.

"Ano.. Sonic-kun.." Nanoha pondered, "You've been staring at us for the last few minutes."

"If you have a question, ask it" Fate politely asked then decided to add a small flirt, "Unless you see something you like"

"Eh? Well I do.. but that's not the point" Sonic blushed a bit, "I had something to ask.. While I was heckling the higher ups at the Enforcer division, I heard something that got me curious. Remember when I mentioned the incident on Space Colony ARK?"

"Hai…" Nanoha nodded, her tone slightly serious, "It could have destroyed Earth years ago, if I recall.."

"The higher-up said that the Bureau asked you two check up on that incident unofficially.." Sonic noted, his tone very curious, "Want to tell me about it?"

"It was just a minor interview. Graham-san arranged it" Fate explained, "We went undercover as reporters from another country and gave an interview to a higher-ranking official from the GUN. They just talked about the whole thing being an accident and immediately covered up the moon destruction of the moon as again an accident."

"We noted our disdain for the cover up and reported the results from our interview to the Bureau" Nanoha added, "They sent out a ship to covertly analyze and repair the damage."

"We noticed it was fixed when the full moon came when it was supposed to" Sonic noted, "So I guess that was you guys?"

"I guess.." Fate shrugged, "We never really heard back from the TSAB on that. GUN never caught on to our covers. And until Rouge showed up on Mid, we thought we'd seen the last of that government."

"Well apparently not.." Sonic grumbled, "And I wasn't the GUN's biggest fan already enough. I swear, they've gotten so much off the deep end driven by that bogus pride. Let's list what those bakas have already done. Commission for a project for the "ultimate life"; cover that up, ask raid the facility after said project is made. Cover it up again and store the project in a facility; probably covering that up too."

"It's not like they are perfect though" Teana noted, "They made a few big mistakes and had tried to control the damage."

"My friends know what happened then.. the ARK was covered up and hidden, but Eggman decided to open it up and blow up half the moon." The blue hedgehog grumbled.

"Your planet only has one?" Ixpellia asked.

"I know, obviously weird considering this world, and a few others, have more than two." The hedgehog shrugged.

"All this negative talk will spoil our lunch" Subaru grumbled, "Can we eat please?"

"Hai!" Everyone agreed and decided to put away the conversation for another time.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]**

After the date, Sonic, Nanoha and Fate took Ixpellia to their place of residence. It was a bit late in the evening, so they decided to let Ix rest for the evening and then give her a tour of the house and go over the rules tomorrow.

The spare room was lent to Ixpellia for the night; before she did go in there, she noticed in the room across from here that Vivio and another girl who appeared to be her age, maybe slightly older if that, was sharing the same bed with the young Kaiser.

"Ano…" Ixpellia inquired

"Eh? Oh that's Alicia-chan" Nanoha explained briefly, "We'll introduce you tomorrow."

"Hai.." Ix shrugged and went inside the room allowed to her to go to sleep.

It was a quiet night and the fitting end to a seemingly long day. The next day could prove to be just as interesting if not more.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 33]**

* * *

Author's Notes: I apologize for the lack of omake on this one. Was kinda rushed and this short chapter's the best I can get so far. More will come and I shall make people laugh! Anyways, the top chapter release this week for me goes to the Night Sky. So much happened, with that I'm done. Good night and good evening wherever you may be.


	34. Record 34

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Alright, some more Slices of life to bring in and off we go.

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[Time: 0630 am]  
[BGM: "Sulyya Springs/Faultwarrens" Final Fantasy XIII]**

A very groggy and half-awake Ixpellia somehow managed to find her way into the dining room after waking up from the long day she had with the blue hedgehog who picked her up from the Saint Church hospital. She had heard that Sonic would hold custody over her until it was time for her to be cleared to be living amongst civilians, and she had already agreed to be adopted by Subaru and Teana.

She was half awake, so she could barely register Vivio's presence at the dining room table, but somehow she was able. There was another girl sitting next to the young Kaiser, but Ixy wasn't awake enough to notice her yet.

Ixpellia sat down after she was served a breakfast of eggs and tea, courtesy of Nanoha. Everyone had the same meal, especially Ix, who after having her breakfast was finally able to notice Alicia's presence. She didn't purposefully not notice the young girl, she just wasn't quite awake to realize she was there. The girl was in for quite a shock when she finally realized who was in front of her.

"Eh?!" Ixy blinked, "A-ano.."

"Oh.. Ohayo, Ixpellia-san" Alicia smiled, "I'm Alicia Testarossa, nice to meet you"

"H-hai.." Ixy was taken back a bit by the rather enthusiastic greeting of Alicia, "Nice to meet you too"

"So you'll be staying with us for a while?" Alicia asked

"Hai" Sonic answered that for her, "Officially we've got custody of her for a month or so. If she's declared to safely live with "regular" civilians, then the custody will expire."

"Where will you go from here, Ixy?" Vivio asked in a display of curiosity.

"Subaru-san and Teana-san said they'll adopt me" Ix replied, then pondered for a moment the new nickname she was apparently given, "Ixy?"

"Your name shortened" Vivio explained cutely and innocently, "It sounds cuter that way instead of Ixpellia. Fitting, ne?"

"H-hai" the former "Dark King" of Galea looked like she was blushing? She had a slightly bright red tint to her cheeks to display that.

"Alright." Sonic stood up, "Much as I dislike saying this, but we are due to go clothes shopping."

"Eh?" Ixy blinked in confusion, "Why?"

"(We)discussed this last night while you were asleep" Nanoha briefly explained, "If you're going to be living here for a while, you're not going to get away with just one dress. We can afford anything you want to buy so don't worry about that"

"We'll take my car" Fate added, "It can fit all of us."

"Hai.." Ixpellia was reluctant, but agreed nonetheless.

"Yay! Shopping!" Both Alicia and Vivio cheered out simultaneously and cutely

"Oh boy…" Sonic sighed, "Here we go"

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

**Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 34  
Shopping for Ixy**

* * *

**[Mid-Childa Downtown shopping district: Clothing department]  
[BGM: "The Gapra Whitewood" Final Fantasy XIII OST]**

As per usual on these sorts of trips, Sonic was arguably the only one who wasn't quite looking forward to shopping for clothes. The blue hedgehog knew that it would be a long day for him in carrying the grocery bags and "helping" pick out clothes for the girls. Truth be told, he really didn't care too much as long as the girls were happy with their choices; it seemed like the best diplomatic answer, but that wasn't the answer sought after when they asked for his own opinion.

He did not receive much sympathy, nor did his attempts of talking his way out of giving his opinions were bought either. In fact they almost backfired on him and it was by sheer luck that he was somehow able to talk his way out of "punishment".

"Sonic-kun.." Nanoha pouted a bit as she tried to get the blue hedgehog of a husband of hers and Fate's to try to give some input in the dress and clothing selection for Ixpellia, "Don't you think the outfits are cute? You have to give some input since she's living with us"

"Should I really care what she wears? As long as she's comfortable and it fits her, it's fine with me." The blue hedgehog grumbled and shrug, "Why (are) you girls coming to me for fashion advice anyway? I'm not a girl who wears dresses; I can't pretend to be some expert in ladies fashion"

"That issue can be changed" Nanoha teasingly offered with a smirk to her expression, "If you don't mind"

"N-no thank you" Sonic was very quick to decline, "I'd rather not"

"Ano.." Ixy asked a bit curiously, "What are they talking about?"

"You'll find out sometime this month" Fate answered, her statement left hanging while Vivio and Alicia both giggling a bit in amusement.

"Eh?" Ixpellia blinked in confusion.

"Nothing" The trio of Fate, Alicia and Vivio simultaneously giggled a bit, confusing Ixy even more.

With that, the shopping extravaganza continued, Ixy got more than just the Chinese style dresses she usually wore. She also got outfits of shirts with skirts to match in color and style. Much to the hedgehog's dismay, he admitted that the outfits didn't look too bad and elaborated, under some threat to the hedgehog's masculinity, which was somewhat low enough, how he felt the outfits matched, though he was no fashion genius.

Rest of the trip went as per usual, from shopping for clothes, undergarments, another thing to Sonic's dismay, and lastly footwear, something he didn't mind too much, mainly because it didn't relate to the more personal items that the blue hedgehog didn't feel he head much business with his input

After a couple of hours, a break was taken at the food court for lunch. Much to the happiness of Nanoha and Sonic, the variety of options for food choices included meals from their home world of Earth, including Chinese delicacies.

Sonic and Nanoha ordered a whole round of lunch from the Chinese cuisine. The order consisted of sweet and sour chicken, the duo explained a bit to Ixpellia about the outfield the servers wear and how her dress was similar to it. Thanks to that, Ixy understood what Sonic finally meant when he called her dress "Chinese".

Ixpellia was given also a crash course on using chopsticks and eating food with them, they weren't nearly as difficult as she thought they'd be. If even Sonic could use them, then she'd be just fine. The taste of the Sweet and Sour chicken intrigued Ixy quite a bit with the unique combination of flavors.

Lunch ended and everyone went back to shopping for another hour or so. After the hour, Sonic finally managed to convince the girls that the shopping fun should end there. It was doubtful that his wallet could take another round. Sure he may get paid a bit in his line of work for the Bureau, but that didn't mean he used all of it at once. Thankfully, Nanoha and Fate agreed to the suggestion and they left.

* * *

**[Marine Garden]  
[BGM: "Archelyte Steppe" Final Fantasy XIII]**

The rest of the trip was spent in a little afternoon fun at a peaceful park called the Marine Garden. Fate remembered this well as it was the original destination for Caro and Erio when they visited to help out with the Mariage Incident, but they couldn't go to the park because it was rained out.

Ixpellia noted a bit of familiarity for the marine park because of the location it was situated in, compared to the ocean that held the ruins she was held in.

"I know this place. It's close to the ocean" Ixy voiced her familiarity.

"Hai" Sonic nodded, "The 108th Battalion is close by to here. Also, the area where we had the aircraft carrier sit in idle so we could launch the Speed Star's close by too."

"I still don't know how Hayate could arrange for that" Fate noted, "In such short time, I mean. It was barely an hour and a half before we had a good hint for her (Ixpellia's) location. Yet, somehow, Hayate arranged for a carrier to meet you guys there."

"Eh, maybe she's got connections" the hedgehog shrugged, "Odds are with how she handled the JS incident a while back, that's bound to draw some attention. Not to mention how good terms she's on with the Saint Church."

"Hayate?" Ixpellia asked curiously enough, and who could blame her for the question.

"Our best friend" Nanoha noted

"And part-time boss" Sonic added

"You'll likely meet her soon enough" Fate finished

"Nanoha-mama, Sonic-papa, Fate-mama" Vivio half-scolded her parents in embarrassment, "You're finishing each other's sentences again."

"It gets embarrassing" Even Alicia couldn't help but feel a slight pinkness in her cheeks from the slight embarrassment.

The parenting trio just chuckled a bit in a display of embarrassment. They honestly didn't know when they started doing that, but when they did, it always came to an embarrassment to not only them, but also the kids they were raising.

* * *

**[Takamachi Residence]  
[No BGM]**

The day on the road finally came to an end as the group plus Ixpellia returned to their home just as the sun was starting to set. Even though a lot of energy was spent in having fun and all, no one was really all that tired yet. If anything, they were just hungry and dinner time was soon.

Nanoha went off to the kitchen to fix dinner while the others lounged around the living room and turned on the television to see what was on. Coincidentally they just tuned in to the evening news, where the media wrapped up the events that happened over the week.

The special about the Mariage incident was what got everyone's attention. News reporters and analysts weighed in on the rescue the TSAB performed on the underwater ruins and the fighting of the fires and the Mariage arsonists at an old base. The analysts were quick to call the Mariage's attack a tactical diversion to direct the attention away from the ruins in the ocean. Everything that the Bureau wanted them to know was reported and a Bureau official gave a stern warning to the media not to seek out the former "Dark King" of Galea without not only her consent, but also the consent of the Bureau mage holding temporary custody over her. They did not reveal the name of the official publically, much to Sonic's approval.

"Well that's a load off my back for the time being" the hedgehog sighed in relief.

"They usually heckle you a bit, so that is a relief" Fate added, "Eventually they will want to interview her, I just hope they take it easy."

"If I was prepared for it.." Ixy noted

"Don't worry about that. We'll help you out" Nanoha spoke from the kitchen, "every one of us, minus Alicia and Vivio, has had a few verbal spars with media reporters during our work"

"Arigatou" Ix thanked them for the assistance that was upcoming soon.

"In a few days reporters will come by and talk." Fate noted, "We'll do our best to get you prepared"

"Dinner!" Nanoha called out as she finished in the kitchen.

With that, the night went by peacefully with a well-cooked dinner courtesy of Nanoha. After that, everyone went off to their respective bedrooms and clocked out for the night, knowing that the next few days will get interesting for them all.

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

* * *

**[End of Chapter 34]**

Author's Notes: Because I'm going camping this weekend, I'm posting early in a little session of what I like to call, POST AND RUN!


	35. Record 35

SonicANIME2010 here, bringing in another chapter to Lyrical Record. Well another slice-of-life chapter before I decide about moving on to the next. Here we go!

* * *

**[TSAB Administrated Planet #1 "Mid-Childa"]  
[Takamachi Residence]  
[Time: 1035 hours]  
[BGM: "Sulyaa Springs/Faultwarrens" Final Fantasy XIII]**

The morning started peacefully with some breakfast and such for the Takamachi family and their newest houseguest, Ixpellia. After breakfast, they were joined by Hayate and Reinforce Zwei, who were there to help prep the former dark king for the upcoming interviews the TSAB had the courtesy to grant to the media on Mid-Childa. Hayate has dealt with the media during her tenure as the commander of Riot Force 6. She helped to prep Ixy for some interviews scheduled by the Bureau with advice while Nanoha and Fate helped her dress for the occasion

"Dealing with interviews aren't as hard as you might think" Hayate briefly explained, "Keep your calm and do not act out because sometimes they will try to bait you into a response like that"

"You've seen this happen?" Ixpellia asked somewhat curiously.

"Hai" Hayate nodded, "In our line of work you deal with this sort of thing most of the time."

"How tough does it get?" the former dark king asked as she was assisted by Nanoha to get one of her best looking Chinese dresses on.

"Depends on who's giving the interview" Fate answered, "Every reporter has a different style to asking questions. Some may start out strong and come after you, and some may just take it easy, but then surprise you with a tough question that gets you thinking."

"You never know when they can surprise you" Nanoha added, "Even if you do your best to keep your guard up, they'll still find a way to sneak a question that just gets you to scratch your head in."

"I'll keep that in mind" Ixy said as she let Nanoha adjust her skirt to fit better along her waist. The young former king couldn't help but gather some curiosity from the choice of attire her mage hosts were suiting her up with, which was a buttoned up shirt with a blue tie, a pleaded skirt and a blazer coat, the young girl noted her curiosity, "Um, why am I supposed to wear this?"

"We want to make sure you're well dressed" Hayate explained, "It helps to create a good image for the person involved, and considering how important you are, this type of outfit suits you well."

"Hai.." Ixy nodded in understanding, "When does this start?"

"When you're ready for it" The brunette commander answered

"Hai.." The young former "dark king" sighed and collected her thoughts, after said sigh, she gained confidence and conviction, "I'm ready!"

* * *

**[OP: "Phantom Minds" Nana Mizuki]**

**Sonic Adventure: Lyrical Record  
Record 35  
Meet the Dark King**

**[Marine Garden]  
[BGM: "The Archlytte Steppe" Final Fantasy XIII]**

* * *

Hayate had arranged for the media reporters who had wanted to talk to Ixpellia to be located at a private place in the Marine Garden. The weather was absolutely perfect for the interview, sunny skies, and though it was warm, the calm cool breeze made it all enjoyable.

Despite Ixpellia's numerous protests, Sonic drove her in the Speed Star to the Marine Garden for the interview because Fate had to drop off her car earlier for maintenance and repairs. The car was safely parked and the group went off to attend to Ixy's interview.

Per Hayate's "request" there weren't many reporters out in the designated region. There was a Mid-Childan news youth correspondent who accompanied by one of the best and most reliable reporters in the news organization. The youth reporter was a young girl in her mid-teens with long brownish hair and donning a skirt and pink t-shirt outfit, going for the more casual look. The older reporter was a man with graying hair in his mid-50s; he too chose the casual outfit with jeans and a pink collared shirt.

"Nice shirt, Wright-san" Hayate complimented, giggling but not in a particularly teasing manner, "I know I requested casual, but…"

"Wright-san and I attended a special that helped to fund breast cancer" the youth reporter answered for her counterpart quickly, "We didn't bother to change since the dress code for today's interview was casual."

"Good cause to support" Sonic complimented the duo

"It is.." The older gentleman said, "Now shall we get started?"

"Hai" Hayate agreed, "I'll accompany you guys in the interview, just to make sure we don't tread over anything confidential."

"And the ones accompanying you?" the youth reporter asked, "We'll need to talk to them too.. At least, Sonic-san and Nanoha-san"

"Fate-chan can take the kids out to play" Hayate answered, "Ne, Fate-chan?"

"Hai" Fate smiled, "Alicia, Vivio? Want to explore the Garden a bit?"

"Hai!" Both girls enthusiastically agreed

"Call me if you need me" Fate requested as she took the two girls out to play. While the others went inside what looked like a small patio area with tables set up and an awning over it to keep the sun off.

* * *

**[POV: Fate, Alicia, Vivio]  
[BGM: "Chocobo Theme" Final Fantasy (pick one)]**

The trio of coincidentally blondish-yellow haired girls explored around the Marine Garden in joy; enjoying the festivities the park had to offer. From small roller coasters to just a simple stroll through the beautiful gardens part of the park, there really wasn't anything to complain about.

"Fate-mama?" Vivio asked her adoptive mother in some curiosity and concern over the new temporary houseguest, "Do you think Ixy-chan will be able to handle the interview?"

"I believe so." Fate answered honestly, "Mike Wright's one of the best reporters from the Mid-Childan newsmedia group, and the youth reporter, Maya, was trained by Wright-san. They know how to handle first-time interviewees"

"I hope you're right" Alicia said hopefully, it wasn't like she didn't have any faith in her "clone" now mother, she was just overall concerned, "I mean it's only been a week at the most since you guys rescued her from the Mariage. Now that I think of it, wouldn't they still be around or something if they kept looking for her?"

"The Bureau and the Engineering department took care of that" Fate answered, "She's got a device on her at all times that helps her control the Mariage. They don't appear unless she calls for them."

"A control device?" Vivio asked

"Hai" Fate nodded, "You both will be getting devices soon as well. I talked to the instructors at the school ran by the Saint Church, and they've got nothing but positive things to say about you both. You're both doing good on tests and assignments, and neither of you are causing any behavior issues. We're very proud of you for that."

Both girls just glimmered with excitement over the high praises they received and the great news about the announcement of upcoming devices for them.

"Devices?! Really?" Vivio beamed with excitement

"When?" Alicia added her own question.

"Very soon." Fate answered, "It will take some time for us to request some time from the Engineering department to get them built. And from there, they'll need to find an open timeframe to get the devices built."

"Thank you very much" Both girls energetically thanked their 2nd mother with a bow.

"You deserved it.." Fate noted, "Now, you two want to play some more?"

"Hai!" They didn't need to answer, but the duo did anyway and went off with Fate to continue their play.

* * *

**[POV: Sonic, Nanoha, Hayate, Ixpellia]  
[BGM: "The Gapra Whitewood" Final Fantasy XIII]**

Meanwhile, on the other side of things, the interview went along quite smoothly so far. Despite what Ixpellia heard, she wasn't exactly put on the spot by the questions either Mike Wright or his youth subordinate Maya. Both of them just took it slow and worded their questions carefully but also understandable. The first round of questions were merely background ones; the kid glove approach at first, those would come off soon enough as Hayate had warned, but for the time being, the questions were easy as Ixpellia was new.

"So…" Wright decided that it was enough for the "kid gloves" and start asking the real questions he wanted to ask; the more personal ones, "I think that's enough of the mild background. Shall we get to the real questions? We'd like to get to know you personally, if you wouldn't mind a few questions to make you think?"

"I was wondering when we were going to get to those myself." Ixy noted in response, "Hayate-san and the others warned me a bit about when the questions would start to get serious"

"Well, you'll start getting them now" The youth reporter announced, "Ready?"

"Hai!" Ixpellia agreed

With that, the questions continued. This time they weren't quite as easy to answer. The reporters asked about her life back in Galea all those years ago. Ixy was able to answer them just off recollection and her own feelings. As it turned out, most of the history texts and such greatly over exaggerated her status as the "dark king". Despite the Mariage's lust for war and power, Ix hated fighting personally.

After her questions were answered, the reporters went on to ask Sonic, Nanoha and Hayate about the operation that allowed them to retrieve the "Dark King" in the first place. Hayate summarized the behind-the-scenes stage as a group effort that was largely thanks to some luck. She talked about how Shadow intercepted a Mariage unit out to exterminate him for eavesdropping, and turned the tables on her to get a lead. The lead was later confirmed by Jail Scaglietti, who was quite open to talking, granted once they agreed to arrange for some wine to be delivered to the doctor.

Sonic and Nanoha talked about their descent into the ruins where Ixpellia was held. They had taken Subaru with them for some backup and largely had a great deal of success in the infiltration. Though they were outnumbered, stealth played a part in cutting down the numbers of the Mariage keeping them from the girl. After securing Ixpellia, the task shifted to escaping the ruins. It wasn't easy by any stretch of the term, Subaru was injured and the Speed Star took some damage when it made a full-speed escape attempt.

After that, Fate was called in to talk about the diversion effort the Mariage made in an attempt to keep the Bureau's main focus on them while they made their efforts to capture their King. Led by the Enforcer, several mages dispatched the flames at an old base and took care of the Mariage attacking them. The event also led to the arrest of Runessa Magnus, who turned out to have deep ties to the enemy. Fate declined to go any further about how her former aide Teana must have felt during that time other than it was difficult for her because Rune was not only Teana's aide, but the two did seem to have a bit of a decent partnership.

After that, the interview concluded peacefully on that note, and everyone was allowed to go home for the rest of the day. The reporters agreed to use the detail they had and make a clean, unbiased report on it. A promise that Sonic, Fate, Hayate and Nanoha all knew would be held quite clearly, as they've dealt with the older of the two before.

With that all said and done, the case was closed on the Mariage incident, Fate had her hopes up that Teana wouldn't get too harsh of a discipline because of her inadvertent partnership with Runessa during the incident, but she wouldn't be sure about what the outcome would be until the Internal Affairs investigation finished up, and she knew that those usually take quite a while. One thing is for sure, when one case ends, another is sure to open soon, and little did they know that the next year would be quite an interesting one to say the least…

**[To Be Continued!]**

**[Ending: "Beautiful Amulet" Yukari Tamura]**

**[End of Chapter 35]**

* * *

Author's Note: Another post and run for me as I'm heading off to Lake Powell for a houseboat trip this week. At any rate, a cliffy! HAA! One saga ends, another is bound to open. STAY TUNED! The story shall go on!


End file.
